DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A former ARCA Menards Series winner at Daytona Int’l Speedway will lead the field to green for the Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire on Saturday afternoon.
Michael Self, who won the crash-marred 2018 edition of the Daytona opener, turned a best lap of 49.619 seconds (181.382 mph) with the No. 25 Sinclair Oil Corp. Toyota Camry for Venturini Motorsports to secure his sixth-career General Tire Pole Award and start off his title pursuit on the right foot.
“I think up until last year, qualifying was a bit of a sour point for me, because I’ve always had such bad qualifying results,” admitted Self. “We kind of squashed that last year finally – I think we had five poles – but to get one here at Daytona Int’l Speedway is really special for me.
“For Sinclair Oil, Venturini Motorsports and Toyota, this is a great way to start, but now we just have to finish the job this afternoon and see if we can’t put this piece back in victory lane.”
Saturday’s effort marked the seventh-straight superspeedway pole for Venturini Motorsports as an organization.
Self will be joined on the front row by past NASCAR modified champion Andy Seuss, who put Our Motorsports second in the qualifying rundown with a lap of 49.622 seconds (181.371 mph) in the No. 02 Chevrolet.
Sixty-four-year-old Dave Mader III, the 1978 Snowball Derby winner and a four-time All-American Challenge Series champion, starts third for the 200-mile race alongside Canadian Jason White.
Self’s rookie teammate, Drew Dollar, completed the top five in qualifying ahead of Riley Herbst, Friday practice leader Hailie Deegan, Connor Hall, World of Outlaws sprint car star David Gravel and Dominique van Wieringen.
NHRA Pro Stock champion Tanner Gray, now plying his trade in stock cars, starts 11th.
Meanwhile, Thad Moffitt – the grandson of seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Richard Petty – rolls off 15th in a third DGR-Crosley entry.
Moffitt, Gray and Deegan are the three drivers for team owner David Gilliland this weekend at Daytona.
The Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire goes green at 4:45 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 1.