Landen Lewis will lead the field to green in front of the largest audience a CARS Tour race has ever enjoyed as the North Wilkesboro race will air live on FOX Sports 1.
The Kevin Harvick Inc. contender posted the fastest lap in time trials and topped Lanie Buice from the pole by just 0.050 of a second in the foothills of the North Carolina High County.
“Just a great race car by Rodney (Childers) and Miles (Copenhaver), they’ve worked their butts off the past week,” Lewis said. “We’ve been working on this race car. We’ve been working and working and working. This is a brand new race car for us. Not brand new but a car we haven’t run since last year and put a lot of work into refurbishing it for this weekend.
“It’s showing and that’s a credit to Rodney and Miles. I just want to thank them for all the work they’ve done for me and all our guys.”
Lewis entered this week trailing Connor Hall by four points in the championship standings so the pole decreases the margin to two.
“They all add up at the end, and yeah, we’re not thinking about that now but we kind of are,” Lewis said. “Its in the back of our heads. We have to keep doing what we’re doing. Keep putting together the finishes that we’re working hard for and deserve and I can’t, again, say enough about my guys. They work their guts off to bring me good race cars and I can’t thank them enough.”
Also producing fast race cars is Lee Pulliam Performance, who gave Buice enough for her second front row start of the season. She held the provisional pole for most of the session until Lewis knocked her off late on a track that got completely covered in shade.
She admitted to second guessing her lap,
“My Lee Pulliam Performance team said I did a really good job in 1 and 2, maybe left a little bit on the table in 3 and 4, which is okay but you have to look back a little bit and wish you had done a better job,” Buice said. “Heck of a qualifying run, super super proud of this Lee Pulliam Performance team and grateful for Folsom Fence Supply, we’re super excited to see what we can do, starting on the front row.”
Arguably the fastest drive in time trials was Kaden Honeycutt, who was trending on the pole until a bobble in Turn 3.
“Honestly, I didn’t even try harder,” Honeycutt said. “My second lap was much better in 1 and 2. I was able to get to the hash mark and get the throttle down, and I was already free by that point, and I told myself going into 3, ‘don’t try harder, hit the bottom, get the lap right,’ but I just got free. I didn’t try harder but it was just a little off. But what a pick up, picking up a half second in practice, and I was 20th mocking up so I was kind of concerned.”
Honeycutt says he can win from third, and said he feels like this Hettinger Racing car could win from 10th if he needed it too.
Jake Bollman and Carson Loftin completed the top-five in time trials. Hall will have to make up ground from the 17th starting position. Third in points Kade Brown will start 23rd.
The race will also air on FS1, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick on commentary, a point of excitement for the field.
“Obviously, being on the pole for it, that means my name gets talked about more so that’s always good. Also, just being on a national platform, that’s not just me but everyone in CARS Tour. It helps the series, sponsors and everyone who races here.”
-Landen Lewis
“This is really big. Very grateful for CARS Tour and the opportunity they’re giving Late Model Stocks to race on FS1. It’s huge for all of us because, we all need that breakthrough moment to climb the latter. It will bring more fans to our kind of racing and sponsors too. Honestly, for me, it’s not extra stress or pressure because I have raced on FS1 before but I also embraced the pressure. It’s a privilege.”
-Lanie Buice
“This is an opportunity for us to show that people want to watch our races more than NASCAR honestly. If we can show that these races are as legit as they are, which they are, I think we’re going to get more people’s eyes on us and want to do it again. That’s the biggest thing. We need to make sure they want to do it again and not make ourselves look dumb and try to do something insane to win the race. We need to look like professionals out there. And the whole field are professionals. Its just a matter of putting our heads together and making sure we do that.”
-Kaden Honeycutt
“It’s really neat right? I love coming up here anyway because it’s kind of a home race anyway because our family business is two exits down so it’s meant a lot to me, having friends and family here, and the support of this community. But to be doing this for a long time, racing on FS1, any of us would be lying if we said this wasn’t a big deal. Really glad to see the series to get this opportunity.”
-Brandon Pierce
“It’s really big for everyone. Being on national television is cool for everyone. Everyone will be on their A game. It’s really cool and really special. We have a good car count. Really historic track and just happy to be here.”
-Caden Kvapil
Qualifying results
- Landen Lewis
- Lanie Buice
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Jake Bollman
- Carson Loftin
- Carson Kvapil
- Caden Kvapil
- Tristan McKee
- Mini Tyrrell
- Andrew Grady
- Tate Fogleman
- Jonathan Shafer
- Donovan Strauss
- Corey LaJoie
- Buddy Isles Jr.
- Chase Burrow
- Connor Hall
- Landon S. Huffman
- Ryan Millington
- Doug Barnes Jr.
- Conner Jones
- Sam Butler
- Kade Brown
- Michael Bumgarner
- Mason Diaz
- Camden Gullie
- Brandon Pierce
- Ronnie Bassett Jr.
- Riley Gentry
- Daniel Silvestri
- Landon Huffman
- Alex Meggs
- Parker Eatmon
- Dylon Wilson
- Dustin Storm
- Cody Dempster
- Ryan Wilson
