KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Report by Race Chaser Online Associate Editor Kyle Magda — ARCA photo —
For the second straight race, the No. 55 Venturini Motorsports Toyota leads the field to green in an ARCA event.
NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Daniel Suarez ran a lap of 29.918 (180.493 mph) to grab the pole for Friday night’s Full Throttle S’loonshine 98.9 at Kansas Speedway. Suarez ran the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas in May and led late until running out of fuel in his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. He was the only driver to turn a lap under 30 seconds.
Starting alongside the NXS rookie is Calypso Short-Track Challenge champion Kyle Weatherman, making his Kansas debut in ARCA. Weatherman put the No. 22 Crosley Brands Dodge second-fastest (179.414 mph) in pursuit of an owner’s championship. The team sits 55 points behind the No. 23 GMS Racing team for the title. The top-three in qualifying features three different manufacturers (Toyota, Dodge and Ford), with Will Kimmel No. 69 car being the fastest Ford during the session.
Brandon Jones was the fastest man in practice earlier in the day and starts fourth (179.14 mph) at the 1.5-mile track. He made his first series start on a similar-type track four weeks ago at Kentucky Speedway. Eventual season champ Grant Enfinger rolls off fifth in his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet. All Enfinger has to do is take the green flag and will be the 2015 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards champion. The team also won this race a year ago with Spencer Gallagher.
John Wes Townley returns to the series for Mason Mitchell Motorsports in the No. 88 Zaxby’s Chevrolet and starts alongside Enfinger in sixth. LOR winner Travis Braden, Mason Mitchell, Tom Hessert and Matt Kurzejewski complete the top-10.
Second-place points man Josh Williams starts 11th and looks to make it one spot better this year at Kansas after a runner-up showing in 2014.
Kentucky winner Ryan Reed starts 12th in Friday night’s race and was the highest-qualifying Lira Motorsports car. Brandon Lynn was next in 14th in the No. 58 Ford. Reed and Suarez are the only two drivers that are double-dipping in both the ARCA and XFINITY events this weekend.
Matt Tifft didn’t attempt a qualifying lap in the No. 52 Toyota and rolls off from 25th. Tifft led last year’s race until the right-front tire went down to end his night. Third-place Kentucky finisher David Levine and Sarah Cornett-Ching start behind Tifft in 26th and 27th, respectively.
The green flag for the Full Throttle S’loonshine 98.9 drops shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. ET) and will be shown live on FOX Sports 1.
STARTING GRID: ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards; Full Throttle S’loonshine 98.9; Kansas Speedway; October 16, 2015
- Daniel Suarez
- Kyle Weatherman
- Will Kimmel
- Brandon Jones
- Grant Enfinger
- John Wes Townley
- Travis Braden
- Mason Mitchell
- Tom Hessert
- Matt Kurzejewski
- Josh Williams
- Ryan Reed
- Bo LeMastus
- Brandon Lynn
- Jairo Avila
- Austin Wayne Self
- Thomas Praytor
- Tom Berte
- James Swanson
- Ed Pompa
- Dale Shearer
- Mike Basham
- Con Nicolopoulos
- Wayne Peterson
- Matt Tifft
- David Levine
- Sarah Cornett-Ching
- Nick Higdon
- Josh White
- Russ Dugger
- Richard Hauck
- Mike Abram
- Dick Doheny
- Eric Caudell
- Wayne Edwards