Layne Riggs was only able to muster the 20th-fastest lap in Friday afternoon's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice at Phoenix Raceway, while Kaden Honeycutt, the series point leader, paced the field in the tune-up for Friday night's Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150.
However, when the chips were on the table in qualifying, which will set the starting lineup for Friday night's race, Riggs came to life, and scored a decisive pole position.
Riggs, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150, turned a lightning-quick lap time of 27.039 seconds (133.141 mph), which allowed him to best Honeycutt for the pole position by a margin of 0.155 seconds.
Riggs, who comes into the race trailing Honeycutt by 17 points in The Chase, says the pole-winning run bolstered his confidence heading into Friday night's race.
"Last year, we got the pole. Didn't get to start on the pole, we had to start pretty much a lap down to start the race, and we still drove up and were leading with a few [laps] to go. And I think our trucks are miles better than it was last year. So, just super excited about tonight. I have a good feeling about this one," Riggs said while showing off a smile.
Riggs, who scored his series-best seventh win last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, claimed his fifth pole of the season on Friday, which is also the most in the series this season. Overall, the pole marks the ninth of Riggs' NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career, and it came in his 76th attempt.
Chandler Smith, the third-place driver in the Chase Grid, will start just behind the top-two drivers in the standings, as he secured the third-place qualifying spot on Friday afternoon, and he'll be joined in the second row by Landen Lewis, who is driving the No. 45 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado.
Ben Rhodes, Ty Majeski, Tristan McKee, Tanner Gray, William Sawalich, and Connor Mosack rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for the Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 at Phoenix Raceway.
Zero Carbon Bioethanol 150 Starting Lineup
Pos | Truck | Driver | Lap time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 34 | Layne Riggs (C) | 27.039 | 133.141 |
2 | 11 | Kaden Honeycutt (C) | 27.194 | 132.382 |
3 | 38 | Chandler Smith (C) | 27.247 | 132.125 |
4 | 45 | Landen Lewis | 27.277 | 131.979 |
5 | 99 | Ben Rhodes (C) | 27.300 | 131.868 |
6 | 88 | Ty Majeski (C) | 27.322 | 131.762 |
7 | 77 | Tristan McKee | 27.339 | 131.680 |
8 | 15 | Tanner Gray | 27.360 | 131.579 |
9 | 5 | William Sawalich (i) | 27.382 | 131.473 |
10 | 7 | Connor Mosack | 27.393 | 131.420 |
11 | 62 | Leland Honeyman | 27.394 | 131.416 |
12 | 1 | Brent Crews (i) | 27.395 | 131.411 |
13 | 91 | Christian Eckes (C) | 27.453 | 131.133 |
14 | 13 | Cole Butcher # | 27.517 | 130.828 |
15 | 9 | Grant Enfinger (C) | 27.532 | 130.757 |
16 | 17 | Gio Ruggiero (C) | 27.567 | 130.591 |
17 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | 27.572 | 130.567 |
18 | 19 | Daniel Hemric (C) | 27.628 | 130.303 |
19 | 26 | Dawson Sutton | 27.630 | 130.293 |
20 | 16 | Justin Haley | 27.635 | 130.270 |
21 | 18 | Tyler Ankrum (C) | 27.650 | 130.199 |
22 | 4 | Donovan Strauss | 27.692 | 130.001 |
23 | 98 | Jake Garcia | 27.710 | 129.917 |
24 | 81 | Kris Wright | 27.722 | 129.861 |
25 | 12 | Brenden Queen # | 27.783 | 129.576 |
26 | 20 | Toni Breidinger | 27.808 | 129.459 |
27 | 44 | Andres Perez De Lara | 27.810 | 129.450 |
28 | 14 | Mini Tyrrell # | 27.870 | 129.171 |
29 | 10 | Corey LaJoie | 27.966 | 128.728 |
30 | 42 | Tyler Reif | 28.030 | 128.434 |
31 | 2 | Monty Tipton | 28.333 | 127.060 |
32 | 25 | Conor Daly | 28.344 | 127.011 |
33 | 23 | Jackson Lee | 28.637 | 125.711 |
34 | 22 | Clayton Green | 28.937 | 124.408 |
35 | 76 | Ben Maier | 0.000 | 0.000 |
36 | 33 | Frankie Muniz | 0.000 | 0.000 |
(C) indicates a Chase contender
# indicates a Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligble to score points
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