DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Perhaps the biggest surprise of Friday afternoon’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying session was Clarksville, Tennessee’s Clay Greenfield, who timed his way into the field and had a shot at running for the pole for much of the first round.
Greenfield, a veritable underdog in the Truck Series field, posted a time of 50.579 seconds (177.939 mph) on his first round run in the No. 68 1-800-PAVEMENT/B.H. Holmes Construction Chevrolet Silverado, sitting second behind Myatt Snider for nearly half of the opening knockout round.
Eventually, however, he faded down the order and was eventually bumped out of final round contention by Timothy Peters with just four trucks to go.
Greenfield ultimately ended the afternoon 15th on the speed charts, and will start his quest for an upset victory in the NextEra Energy Resources 250 (7:30 p.m., FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) from the inside of row eight.
After failing to qualify for all three of his series attempts last year, the Volunteer State native was simply relieved to have checked the first box on his “To-Do” list by timing into the show.
“It feels so great to be in the race,” Greenfield said. “This is huge for us. We greatly upgraded our equipment over winter and we’re definitely looking forward to this race in particular. We felt like we might have had a chance to make the final round of qualifying — our lap was on the border, but it was a great run.”
“We cleared the biggest hurdle by just beating enough trucks to qualify, and as anyone knows, if you get in the race at Daytona you definitely have a shot to win.”
Greenfield’s last series start came at Talladega Superspeedway in October of 2015, but his best-career finish came in the 2012 Daytona season-opener, when he scored his only career top-10 finish by placing 10th.
That familiarity with the 2.5-mile superspeedway gives Greenfield confidence going into the race Friday night, in addition to the fact that he felt very comfortable in his truck during Thursday’s two-hour practice session.
“The truck felt great in practice; I was in a small pack but I could just make all kinds of moves and do whatever I needed to do,” he explained. “I’m really optimistic about our chances (in race trim) and if we can stay out of trouble I think we can make some noise before it’s over, just like we have here in the past.”
Greenfield also has prior experience in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and the ARCA Racing Series, but the majority of his NASCAR history has come at the Truck level, where he has made 32 career starts over the last seven years.
The NextEra Energy Resources 250 takes the green flag at 7:30 p.m., with live coverage on FOX Sports 1, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
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