MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Todd Gilliland led a Kyle Busch Motorsports sweep of the top-three spots on the grid during qualifying on Saturday morning at Martinsville Speedway.
Gilliland turned a fast lap of 19.909 seconds (95.113 mph) with his No. 4 JBL Toyota Tundra en route to his first-career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series pole in his 22nd start. The 18-year-old will chase his maiden series win during the Texas Roadhouse 200 later in the afternoon.
“That’s really awesome,” said Gilliland of finally topping qualifying during his rookie season. “I felt like we had a truck capable of getting (the pole) in the spring here, but we had a motor problem and had to start in the back. This is what we’ve been looking for, though. This is a really important stretch, even though we’re out of the playoffs, because we’ve still got four wins to go after to end the season strong.
“Any momentum you can find is a good thing and that’s what we’re looking for today.”
Fellow 18-year-old Harrison Burton was second-fastest (20.005/94.656) with the No. 51 Morton Buildings Toyota, followed by KBM’s championship contender Noah Gragson in third (20.013/94.618) with the No. 18 Safelite Auto Glass Toyota.
Ben Rhodes was the fastest Ford driver in fourth, followed by Kyle Benjamin in fifth to give Toyota four of the top five spots on the grid in qualifying.
Grant Enfinger was sixth, with Austin Hill, Johnny Sauter, Timothy Peters, Matt Crafton, Stewart Friesen and the fourth KBM entry of Christian Eckes completing the 12 drivers who advanced through all three knockout rounds.
Playoff contender Justin Haley was the first driver who failed to advance to the final round of qualifying, timing in 13th-fastest (20.154/93.957) with the No. 24 Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet and missing advancing by .014 of a second.
Also starting in the middle of the pack is Brett Moffitt, who comes into the round of six as the runner-up in the standings but will start 17th for the 200-lap race.
With 35 trucks on the property, Norm Benning, Ray Ciccarelli and Landon Huffman failed to qualify.
The Texas Roadhouse 200 is scheduled for a 1 p.m. green-flag time, live on FS1, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
To view the full starting lineup, advance to the next page.
