QUALIFYING: Drake Leads BMR Sweep
Rookie Takes First K&N Pro Pole Award At Richmond
RICHMOND, Va. — Rookie Nick Drake led a front-row sweep for Bill McAnally Racing Friday afternoon in qualifying for the evening’s Blue Ox 100 at Richmond International Raceway.
Drake, 18, put down a lap of 22.127 seconds (121.759 mph) around the .75-mile oval. He is making his fifth career NAScAR K&N Pro Series East start and his previous best starting position was 11th.
“It was kind of surprising. I haven’t been the best qualifier,” said Drake. “We worked on qualifying in practice a little bit. We kind of struggled on the first run and made a big improvement on the second run. We laid down a lap and edged out Cole for the pole. It was good.”
His teammate, 16-year-old Cole Custer, qualified second at 22.192 (121.665).
Drake gave BMR three Coors Light Pole Awards in 2014: Custer won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West pole at Phoenix and Brendan McReynolds won the West pole at Irwindale, Calif.
Rookie Chad Finley qualified third at 22.233 (121.441).
Scott Heckert was fourth and Ben Rhodes was fifth. Rhodes had his streak of consecutive poles ended at three.
Brodie Kostecki, Gray Gaulding, Brandon Jones, Ronnie Bassett Jr., and Lee Pulliam rounded out the top 10.
The Blue Ox 100 is scheduled to take the green at 9:40 p.m. ET, following the NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
QUALIFYING RESULTS
NKNPS East Richmond 4/25/14 Qualifying
Pos No. Name Sponsor Best Tm Best Speed In Lap Laps Diff
1 15 Nick Drake* NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 22.175 121.759 2 2
2 00 Cole Custer NAPA Auto Parts/Haas Automation Chevrolet 22.192 121.665 2 2 0.017
3 29 Chad Finley* Auto Value/Air Lift Ford 22.233 121.441 2 2 0.058
4 34 Scott Heckert Turner Scott Motorsports Chevrolet 22.272 121.228 2 2 0.097
5 41 Ben Rhodes* Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet 22.291 121.125 2 2 0.116
6 43 Brodie Kostecki* Arcoplate Toyota 22.314 121.000 2 2 0.139
7 20 Gray Gaulding Krispy Kreme Chevrolet 22.324 120.946 1 2 0.149
8 33 Brandon Jones Wolfpack Energy Services Chevrolet 22.324 120.946 2 2 0.149
9 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr.* Butler Trailer Mfg. Toyota 22.359 120.757 2 2 0.184
10 11 Lee Pulliam* NISCO/NRC Toyota 22.366 120.719 1 2 0.191
11 71 Eddie MacDonald Grimm Const./National MS Society Chevrolet 22.394 120.568 2 2 0.219
12 45 Josh Berry* Speedco Ford 22.402 120.525 2 2 0.227
13 31 Kaz Grala* OzLINK Chevrolet 22.477 120.123 2 2 0.302
14 21 Mackena Bell Special Smiles Pediatric Dentistry Toyota 22.504 119.979 2 2 0.329
15 6 Daniel Suarez Silent Circle/Telcel Toyota 22.537 119.803 2 2 0.362
16 98 Cameron Hayley Cabinets by Hayley Chevrolet 22.538 119.798 2 2 0.363
17 96 Kenzie Ruston Ben Kennedy Racing Chevrolet 22.540 119.787 2 2 0.365
18 1 David Garbo Jr.* Big Machine Records/Garbo Lobster Toyota 22.551 119.729 2 2 0.376
19 42 Jay Beasley* Toyota Racing Development Toyota 22.563 119.665 2 2 0.388
20 97 Jesse Little NASCAR Technical Institute/PFC Brakes Chevrolet 22.578 119.585 2 2 0.403
21 22 Austin Hill* Don-Rich Ford/A&D Welding Ford 22.583 119.559 1 1 0.408
22 07 Clint King* Nashville Wire/Warehouse Design Chevrolet 22.584 119.554 2 2 0.409
23 24 Brennan Newberry Qore24 Chevrolet 22.607 119.432 1 2 0.432
24 4 Sergio Pena Toyota Racing Development Toyota 22.620 119.363 2 2 0.445
25 18 Sam Hunt Drive Technology Toyota 22.666 119.121 2 2 0.491
26 7 Michael McGuire Woods Towing & Transportation Toyota 22.682 119.037 1 2 0.507
27 2 Ryan Gifford UTI/NASCAR Technical Institut Toyota 22.683 119.032 2 2 0.508
28 46 Brandon Gdovic American Messaging/Windstax Toyota 22.685 119.021 1 2 0.510
29 52 Matt Tifft Federated Auto Parts Dodge 22.701 118.937 1 2 0.526
30 81 Jeremy Burns* BBR Chevrolet 22.705 118.917 2 2 0.530
31 91 Jordan Anderson Tri Analytics Toyota 22.712 118.880 2 2 0.537
32 14 Trey Hutchens* All-Star Trucking Chevrolet 22.875 118.033 2 2 0.700
33 56 Akinori Ogata ENEOS Toyota 23.372 115.523 2 2 1.197
34 63 John Salemi John Salemi Racing Toyota 23.394 115.414 2 2 1.219
35 19 Chuck Buchanan Jr.* Spring Drug Chevrolet 24.204 111.552 2 2 2.029
36 55 Jerry Dawson* EXIT Realty Toyota 24.702 109.303 2 2 2.527
* Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender
Sources: Jason Christley/NASCAR PR