Joey Coulter lays down new track record, winning pole for RainEater Wiper Blades 200

Before moving up to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Joey Coulter made his mark in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, catching the eyes of NASCAR car owner Richard Childress. With the trucks having the weekend off, Coulter returns to ARCA routes this weekend.

Coulter proved in qualiying why he was picked by Childress for the No. 22 truck as he won the Menards Pole for the RainEater Wiper Blades 200, setting a new track record in the process. His lap of 37.471 seconds (192.149mh) broke the record set by Cale Gale, which was just under 190 mph. This marks his second career pole award after scoring his first pole at Berlin Raceway in 2010.

“It was a little hairy; I never took the throttle off the thing,” Coulter says. “It was a heck of a lap. I can’t thank everybody at Rip It and Coulter Motorsports enough for putting this car together. (Crew chief) Harold Holly’s calling the shots for this weekend, and I don’t know what he figures out for qualifying, but he can make a rocket ship. It’s a great feeling to me. My dad’s team, they’ve really been getting better and better. I think we’ve found a good combination and something that’s going to work. It’ll be great for (teammate) Matt (Lofton) the rest of the year.”

Coulter has been successful at Michigan in the past in the ARCA Series as in three previous starts, he has never finished outside of the top 10. Earlier in the week, Roger Curtis, the president of Michigan International Speedway, picked Coulter to win the race.

Points leader Brennan Poole will start second as he was 0.247 seconds behind Coulter. Alex Bowman starts third, followed by Venturini Motorsports’ teammates Ryan Reed and Kevin Swindell.

Coulter’s teammate Matt Lofton qualified sixth, followed by Kyle Larson, Frank Kimmel, Chris Buescher, and Jared Marks.

Tonight’s race will begin at 5 p.m., with SPEED airing live coverage and ARCARacing.com featuring live timing and scoring.

Starting Grid