By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio
FORT WORTH – Nick Sanchez earned his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole of the 2024 season Friday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway, site of tonight’s SpeedyCash.com 250.
Sanchez, the 2023 NCTS Rookie of the Year, toured TMS’ high-banked/1.5-mile oval in 29.219-seconds at 184.811 mph in the No. 2 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado fielded by Rev Racing. Sanchez will share the front row with Christian Eckes after his best lap of 29.290-seconds at 184.363 mph in the No. 19 Gates Hydraulics Chevy fielded by McAnally-Hilgemann Racing.
Scheduled for 167 laps/250.5-miles, the season’s seventh race will be televised by FOX Sports 1 at 7:30 p.m. (CDT). Radio coverage will be available via MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Sanchez, a graduate of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity initiative, won the season-opening Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway in February. The 22-year-old Miami native posted five poles last season. Sanchez’s father, Rene, emigrated from Cuba on the Mariel boatlift and settled in Miami when Nick was 8-years-old.
Nick moved into the Truck Series after winning the 2022 ARCA Menards Series championship.
Row 2 is occupied by previous event-winners Stewart Friesen and Kyle Busch. Friesen, the Truck Series winner here in 2022, will start third after lapping at 29.341-seconds and 184.043 mph in the No. 52 Chili’s Toyota Tundra fielded by Halmar Friesen Racing. Friesen finished third in this event last spring, when the Truck Series competed during a weekend headlined by the NTT IndyCar Series.
Busch, winningest driver in the NCTS, qualified fourth for his fourth race as part of a “select-tour” wheeling the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevy. A two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Busch’ best lap was 29.346-seconds at 184.01 mph. Busch’s previous 14 starts at TMS are highlighted by five wins (2009, 2010, 2014, 2019, 2020), 10 top-fives, 10 top-10s and 525 laps-led. His win in 2020 was the last time “Rowdy” raced at Texas in the Truck Series.
Busch’s five NCTS wins at “The Great American Speedway” rank second only to Todd Bodine’s six. Busch bagged his 65th series victory at sister Speedway Motorsports facility Atlanta Motor Speedway and was runner-up at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Series point-leader Ty Majeski will start 11th in the field of 34 after hot-lapping at 29.524-seconds and 182.902 mph in the No. 98 Ford Road Ranger fielded by ThorSport Racing. Majeski moved into the series point-lead following his runner-up result at Martinsville Speedway last weekend. Majeski is seven points ahead of TRICON Garage’s Corey Heim, driver of the No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra. Majeski has two top-five finishes in three series starts at TMS, where his average finish of 8.0 is third-best among active drivers.
Eckes, meanwhile, has earned the title of “Short Track King” after scoring wins at Bristol Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway. Eckes, 23, also has also led the most laps this season with 306.
Series veteran Johnny Sauter _ tied with Busch for second at five Truck Series wins here _ qualified 18th for his second start of the 2024 season at 29.693-seconds and 181.861 mph. Sauter is driving the No. 45 Karl Chevrolet fielded by Niece Motorsports. The popular Wisconsin native drove for the Niece organization in the season-opener at Daytona, where he qualified second and finished 29th (accident). Sauter finished 12th in his most recent TMS start in 2021.
