Former NASCAR Truck Series champion Sheldon Creed won the pole for Saturday’s race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Creed, driving for Young’s Motorsports, posted a top speed of 90.985 mph around the road course.
It’s his first career Truck Series pole in 76 starts.
“I think we’re probably going to have to go to the back, I think we’re going to change the fuel pump, it had a sputter problem there in practice,” Creed to Fox Sports. “I owe this to Scott Speed and Josh Wise, a lot of learning from them, a lot of notes and Scott putting a lot of time with us drivers that work with him.”
Qualifying second was Zane Smith (90.790).
The top five was completed by Cup Series driver Alex Bowman, Parker Kligerman and Cup champion Kyle Busch.
The top 10 was filled out by Carson Hocevar, Stewart Friesen, Christian Eckes, Taylor Gray and Tyler Ankrum.
Hocevar posted the fastest lap in the Group A qualifying session.
“I didn’t expect that,” Hocevar told Fox Sports. “I’ve never been so nervous for practice. I was hoping (for) 10th to 15th, that’s what I was going for. I was not confident. I don’t know where the limit is on these road courses. I just went with back it down, don’t make any mistakes because it’s only one lap. Apparently, it’s good enough.”
Practice
Qualifying was preceded by a 20-minute practice session.
Creed (89.538 mph) and Busch posted the fastest speeds (89.312).
The top five was completed by Chandler Smith, Kligerman and John Hunter Nemechek.
The most laps recorded in the session were eight by Matt Crafton, Nemechek and Grant Enfinger.
Tanner Gray experienced a flat tire and a spin about four minutes into the session. He hadn’t completed a lap yet. It caused a moderate amount of damage to his left-rear fender.
Lawless Alan went for spin with about 12 minutes left. He didn’t suffer any damage.
Stewart Friesen stalled on the track with about nine minutes left, resulting in the second red flag. Friesen told his team over the radio that he had dropped a cylinder.