WHEATLAND, Mo. — One of the biggest weekends of the year for Street Stock drivers got underway Thursday night at Lucas Oil Speedway with T.J. Herndon setting fast qualifying time for the seventh annual Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt.
Herndon toured the oval in 19.318 seconds, pacing Group B and edging out Jared Hays of Jonesboro, Arkansas, who had a time of 19.397.
That earned Herndon the $500 Fast Time Award Presented by TJR Motorsports and Tony Jackson Jr. of Lebanon.
Following those two in Group B were Dale Nelson (19.436) and defending Big Buck 50 champion Peyton Taylor (19.526).
Pacing Group A qualifying was Kyle Slader at 19.462. He was followed by Richie Tosh (19.592), Heath Philpot (19.647) and James McMillin (19.680).
Those eight drivers will start on the pole for the heat races when action for the Street Stock division continues on Friday night. The top two finishers in each heat will lock themselves into Saturday’s $10,000-to-win feature and advance to “dashes” later on Friday night to set the running order of the top 16.
A total of 90 Street Stocks checked into the pits. Action will resume on Friday night with hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05 p.m.