The 18-year-old will be making his first Truck start in tonight’s event
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After recording top-five speeds in both practices today, newcomer Bobby Pierce earned his first career 21 Means 21 Pole Award on Wednesday, using a high speed of 86.889 mph to bring his No. 63 MB Motorsports Chevrolet owned by Mike Mittler to the top of the leaderboard. It also was Mittler’s first pole.
Pierce, an 18-year-old dirt Late Model driver, will be making his first Camping World Truck Series start in tonight’s 1-800-CarCash Mud Summer Classic (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1). His qualifying effort tonight made him the fifth driver in Truck Series history to win the pole in his first start. He joins former series champions Ron Hornaday Jr. (Phoenix, 1995) and Bobby Hamilton (Martinsville, 1996) as well as Kerry Earnhardt (Daytona, 2005) and Alex Tagliani (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, 2014).
After sustaining damage in the second practice, Johnny Sauter rebounded, posting the second-fastest speed (84.818 mph) on the leaderboard in his No. 98 ride. Ray Black Jr. was third on the leaderboard, his No. 07 Truck recording a high speed of 84.567 mph. Cameron Hayley (84.380 mph) and John Wes Townley (84.309 mph) rounded out the top five.
The top five from this evening’s single truck qualifying willl start on the pole for each of the five qualifying races, which will determine the rest of the field for tonight’s 1-800-CarCash Mud Summer Classic (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM). Beyond the pole, the random draw will decide the order of the qualifying races.
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Sprint Cup Series Brad Keselowski will be making his dirt track debut in tonight’s Mud Summer Classic. After a brush with the wall, Keselowski’s No. 29 BK Racing Truck picked up the 21st-fastest spot on the leaderboard.
Former Sprint Cup Series driver Ken Schrader — who was the first pole winner for the annual Eldora race — ranked 18th on the leaderboard in his own No. 52 Toyota.
Wednesday’s opening qualifying session provided the drivers with plenty of challenges associated with dirt track racing. JR Motorsports’ Cole Custer took a hard hit to the wall in his first qualifying run, damaging his No. 00 Chevrolet and giving him a flat tire. The incident left him with a 34th qualifying spot. Ty Dillon‘s No. 33 GMS Racing truck made contact with the wall on his first qualiyfing run, giving him a 20th qualifying position for tonight’s five-race event.
Madeline Crane’s No. 80 truck — which took on damage in the second practice — also hit the wall in Turn 1 early in the qualifying session, which qualified her 33rd. Matt Tifft — who qualified 27th — spun out in his second lap, but didn’t make contact.
The Camping World Truck Series is back on track for the first qualiyfing race at 7 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 2).