Practice leader Erik Jones will start on the pole in tonight’s race
RELATED: Full starting lineup | Practice speeds from Gateway
Keystone Light Pole Qualifying got underway at Gateway Motorsports Park, but four minutes into the 20-minute opening round, a downpour put a hold on the session at the 1.25-mile track before ultimately washing out the three rounds of knockout qualifying.
Since qualifying did not resume, NASCAR set the starting grid based on practice speeds, per the rule book. That puts Erik Jones on the pole position since he topped the lone practice session with a fast lap of 136.766 mph.
Jones was also the fastest among the 16 drivers that made a lap during the opening round qualifying before the rain moved in, clocking a lap of 136.087 mph.
Second-fastest in practice was JR Motorsports’ Cole Custer (136.591 mph), who will start on the front row with Jones. Rounding out the top five from their top speeds in practice are ThorSport Racing’s Matt Crafton (136.579 mph) and Johnny Sauter (136.285 mph), and GMS Racing’s Brandon Jones (136.240 mph), respectively.
Custer won the 21 Means 21 Pole Award for this race last year, an event that was ultimately won by Darrell Wallace Jr.
There is no Air Titan at the track but there are jet dryers at work to dry the Illinois facility.
The American Ethanol Presents the Drivin’ for Linemen 200 brought to you by Ameren is the eighth race on the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule for 2015. The 160-lap, 200 mile event is set for 8:30 p.m. ET with coverage on FOX Sports 1 as well as MRN and SiriusXM.