LOUDON, N.H. — After missing the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs, Noah Gragson said he and his team had one goal in mind for the rest of the season: go out and win races.
The 18-year-old Las Vegas native got his quest to accomplish that goal off to a flying start Saturday morning, stealing the pole for the UNOH 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway during the final round of Keystone Light Pole Qualifying.
Gragson toured the ‘Magic Mile’ in 28.896 seconds (131.811 mph) with his No. 18 Switch Toyota to grab his third-career 21 Means 21 Pole Award, as well as his third of the season.
“I knew it was going to be a good lap when I got out of the truck and my hand was shaking,” Gragson smiled. “This is awesome. The second round … honestly, I didn’t even know if we were going to have enough speed to make the final round, and the last lap I sailed it off into (Turn 3) for all she had and it stuck. The sticky stuff gripped up good on our tires and it all worked out.”
“I’m really happy and thankful for the opportunity. Now all we’ve got to do is go and race this afternoon.”
Gragson is gunning to become the sixth-straight pole winner to win the Truck Series race at Loudon.
His teammate, top-seeded playoff contender Christopher Bell, completed a Kyle Busch Motorsports sweep of the front row for the fourth time this season with a lap of 28.905 seconds (131.770 mph) in the final round.
Bell will start second in the No. 4 SiriusXM Toyota, seeking his fifth win of the season and KBM’s second in a row at Loudon.
Johnny Sauter’s Chevrolet was the only non-Toyota inside the top five, qualifying third-quick (29.001/131.333) ahead of Ben Rhodes and double NASCAR K&N Pro Series championship leader Todd Gilliland.
Austin Cindric was the fastest Ford in sixth, with Ryan Truex, Grant Enfinger, Chase Briscoe, Matt Crafton, Stewart Friesen and Kaz Grala completing the dozen drivers who made it through all three knockout rounds.
While Justin Haley missed the cut for the final round by .004 of a second and will start 13th (29.279/130.086), it was John Hunter Nemechek who ended qualifying as the only playoff-eligible driver to not advance to the final round.
Nemechek will roll off 14th (29.283/130.069) in the No. 8 Fire Alarm Services Chevrolet.
“We went to make an adjustment and the wrench didn’t go down in the trackbar hole, so the adjustment wasn’t made,” he explained. “Obviously that didn’t really do anything for us on my last run. It stinks, but we’re going to take the positives out of it. We’ve got a great truck in race trim … it’s not exactly where we wanted to start, but I feel like we’ll be able to make passes and be there when it counts.”
Cody Coughlin had a flat tire at the end of round one and did not make an attempt in the second round. He will start 23rd.
The UNOH 175 takes the green flag at 1 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 1, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
Full qualifying results can be viewed on the next page…
