Matt Crafton Snags
Matt Crafton celebrates with the pole award at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday. (Jacob Seelman photo)
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Matt Crafton Snags Talladega Truck Pole

October 12, 2019

TALLADEGA, Ala. – The two drivers needing to break into the top four in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series playoffs will lead the field to green Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway.

Matt Crafton and Tyler Ankrum, fifth and sixth in the playoffs entering the Round of 6, earned the top two spots on the grid during qualifying for the Sugarlands Shine 250 at the 2.66-mile Alabama oval.

Crafton, also on standby for the ailing Paul Menard this weekend, took down his 16th career Truck Series pole with a lap of 52.928 seconds (180.925 mph) in the No. 88 Black Label Bacon/Menards Ford.

Surprisingly, it was the first superspeedway pole of the 20-year veteran’s Truck Series tenure.

“I’m surprised we got one, yeah, but it just says a lot about everybody at the shop and how hard everybody’s worked on this truck,” Crafton noted. “With our superspeedway program, qualifying has never been one of our strong suits, so it just shows how hard everyone at the shop and every one of these guys that come to the race track have been working lately to make this piece fast. They’ve put a lot of heart and soul into this truck and it’s showing.

“Our Menards Ford F-150 has great speed on its own, and when I was in the draft in practice I was very happy with it as well, so I’m looking forward to it later today.”

Ankrum will join Crafton up front after posting the second-fastest lap time of 52.941 seconds (180.881 mph) with his No. 17 May’s Hawaii/Modern Meat Company Toyota Tundra.

The 18-year-old California young gun is the underdog story of this year’s Truck Series playoffs, sneaking through to the Round of 6 despite missing the first three races of the season due to age restrictions. He’s making his first start on a superspeedway this weekend.

Non-playoff contenders took the next five positions on the grid, with Harrison Burton and Johnny Sauter sharing the second row and Sheldon Creed, Todd Gilliland and Riley Herbst following that duo.

Defending Truck Series champion Brett Moffitt starts eighth, with Stewart Friesen (10th), Austin Hill (13th) and Ross Chastain (17th) filling out the remainder of the playoff drivers in the field.

Last year’s Talladega Truck Series winner, Timothy Peters, is driving the No. 87 Chevrolet Silverado for NEMCO Motorsports this weekend and rolls off 22nd for the 94-lap, 250-mile event.

The Sugarlands Shine 250 goes green at 1:30 p.m. ET, with live coverage on FOX Sports 1, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

The full starting lineup can be found below.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series; Talladega Superspeedway; Oct. 12, 2019

  1. #88 – Matt Crafton, 52.928 seconds (180.925 mph)
  2. #17 – Tyler Ankrum, 52.941 seconds (180.881 mph)
  3. #18 – Harrison Burton, 53.097 seconds (180.349 mph)
  4. #13 – Johnny Sauter, 53.149 seconds (180.173 mph)
  5. #2 – Sheldon Creed, 53.183 seconds (180.058 mph)
  6. #4 – Todd Gilliland, 53.223 seconds (179.922 mph)
  7. #51 – Riley Herbst, 53.248 seconds (179.838 mph)
  8. #24 – Brett Moffitt, 53.291 seconds (179.693 mph)
  9. #7 – Korbin Forrister, 53.357 seconds (179.470 mph)
  10. #52 – Stewart Friesen, 53.385 seconds (179.376 mph)
  11. #9 – Codie Rohrbaugh, 53.520 seconds (178.924 mph)
  12. #22 – Austin Wayne Self, 53.567 seconds (178.767 mph)
  13. #16 – Austin Hill, 53.664 seconds (178.444 mph)
  14. #98 – Grant Enfinger, 53.707 seconds (178.301 mph)
  15. #99 – Ben Rhodes, 53.827 seconds (177.903 mph)
  16. #15 – Anthony Alfredo, 53.882 seconds (177.722 mph)
  17. #45 – Ross Chastain, 53.904 seconds (177.649 mph)
  18. #30 – Brennan Poole, 53.937 seconds (177.540 mph)
  19. #54 – Natalie Decker, 53.946 seconds (177.511 mph)
  20. #12 – Gus Dean, 54.044 seconds (177.189 mph)
  21. #02 – Tyler Dippel, 54.073 seconds (177.094 mph)
  22. #87 – Timothy Peters, 54.088 seconds (177.045 mph)
  23. #28 – Bryan Dauzat, 54.100 seconds (177.006 mph)
  24. #68 – Clay Greenfield, 54.289 seconds (176.389 mph)
  25. #20 – Spencer Boyd, 54.360 seconds (176.159 mph)
  26. #44 – Angela Ruch, 54.569 seconds (175.484 mph)
  27. #8 – John Hunter Nemechek, 54.665 seconds (175.176 mph)
  28. #10 – Jennifer Jo Cobb, 55.019 seconds (174.049 mph)
  29. #33 – Mason Massey, 55.426 seconds (172.771 mph)
  30. #3 – Jordan Anderson, 55.501 seconds (172.537 mph)
  31. #6 – Norm Benning, 55.858 seconds (171.435 mph)
  32. #34 – Jesse Iwuji, 56.008 seconds (170.976 mph)