NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — The fields are set for Saturday’s championship tripleheader at historic North Wilkesboro Speedway as pole winners were crowned Friday in the Late Model Stock and Pro Late Model classes in the zMAX CARS Tour as well as the SMART Modified Tour.
On Saturday, race winners and season champions will be celebrated.
Landon S. Huffman raced to his first-career pole for the CrossRoads Harley-Davidson 125 in the zMAX CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car category. Luke Baldwin of the Rick Ware Racing Team held off the father-son tandem of Keelan and Kevin Harvick, to claim the Pro Late Model pole for the Northwest Automotive 100. Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte qualified third in SMART Modified Tour qualifying but will start on the pole for the Frontier Natural Gas 99 after the post-qualifying top-four redraw.
Huffman seemed a bit surprised that he was able to claim the pole in the Late Model Stock Car race. He will lead the field to green alongside championship contender Landen Lewis. Another title chaser, Conner Hall, will start third. The two drivers are separated by 12 points entering the season finale.
Huffman, who posted a second-place finish last week at Tri-County Speedway and now earns his first career pole says the biggest change in his race team comes via new leadership under the hood.
“The biggest difference is I have Carter Langley as my crew chief now,” Huffman said. “We have worked really hard. We have tried to get as fast as we can as quick as we can. I’m shaking right now I’m so excited and in shock. Hopefully we can go and capitalize on it tomorrow.”
Baldwin set the pace in Pro Late Model for the Northwest Automotive 100 with a quick lap of 17.374 seconds in his No. 51 Ford. Florida native T.J. DeCaire will start on the front row with Baldwin, as he qualified second in his No. 88 Chevy. The Harvicks, Young Gun and three-time season winner Keelan and former Cup champ Kevin, rounded out the top four in their HendrickCars.com Chevrolets and will fill the second row.
“Every little bit counts and everything we can do right now to add on to it helps us,” said Baldwin, who is in contention for the Owner points championship in Pro Late Model. “It’s a good advantage to get the pole and plus we get to lead to the green. The car was on kill today.”
Baldwin will pull double-duty Saturday as he is in contention for the series title in the SMART Modified Tour and will start sixth in the Frontier Natural Gas 99.
While Baldwin focuses on taking the Owner’s crown, Ben Maier, who will start fifth, holds a commanding championship series lead over Brandon Lopez and Dylan Garner in Pro Late Model.
Joey Coulter, who had struggled in qualifying for most of the year, claimed his second career pole in the SMART Modified Tour with a quick lap time of 17.225 seconds. After the post-qualifying redraw for the top four drivers, Coulter selected the third-place starting position.
“These guys have done such a good job of getting the cars better each week,” Coulter said. “I guess I can win a pole in a Modified. We finally got the speed we needed to get it done. I don’t mind starting third because we finally got that qualifying monkey off our back and that’s important to us.”
A pair of former Cup Series stars in Labonte and Ryan Newman will lead the 28-car field to the green flag in Saturday’s Frontier Natural Gas 99. Labonte, who is driving the No. 38 machine, drew the No. 1 spot and Newman in the No. 2 picked last with the second starting spot available.
Last week’s winner Carson Loftin qualified second but will start fourth after the redraw.
