A freshly repaved race track can only mean one thing – it’s fast, and Daniel Suarez was fastest in the final round of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series qualifying, and earned his first series pole.
The Kyle Busch Motorsports driver earned pole with a fast lap of 29.511 seconds (182.983 MPH) at Kentucky Speedway for tonight’s rare Thursday night race. It’s Suarez’ first pole in 21 attempts.
Brett Moffitt, in for the sidelined Matt Tifft in the No. 11 at Red Horse Racing, qualified second. The 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year is making only his third career start in the Truck Series, and first since 2013. Tifft is sidelined after recently undergoing surgery for a low grade glioma brain tumor.
Truck Series point leader William Byron qualified third followed by Brad Keselowski Racing teammates Daniel Hemric and Tyler Reddick. With three wins this season, Byron is already locked into the eight-man Chase later this year, but the two BKR drivers are each still looking to secure their spot in the Chase.
Rounding out the top-10 were Parker Kligerman in the No. 05 for John Wes Townley, Kyle Busch, Matt Crafton, Ben Rhodes and Gateway winner, Christopher Bell.
The repave at Kentucky has brought a sense of unpredictability to the truckers. Speeds are up at 1.5-mile track, and the bumps drivers are used to are gone, along with the multiple grooves they’re used to racing on. The likely unpredictable race will go green tonight at 8:48 p.m. ET.