Parker Kligerman, in the No. 05 Athenian Motorsports-Jive Chevrolet, won the Menards Pole presented by Ansell Friday afternoon at Lucas Oil Raceway for tonight’s Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 presented by Jive.
Kligerman, who was also fastest in the first practice session earlier, circled the .686-mile oval in 22.415 seconds, an average speed of 110.176 mph.
“We started the day off really loose,” Kligerman said. “They tested with Grant (Enfinger) when it was a lot cooler. This track is very temperature sensitive. We tried to keep the car tighter on the exit without hurting the center.
“It’s so hot today and we know the track’s going to change a lot for tonight. We’re going to have to be on our game tonight. We’ve already changed so much on the car. The 77, 28 and 22 are going to be our main competitors…we’ll give it our best. I ran a USAC Midget here once and a Truck. Love the track. I’m going to have to rely on Kevin Reed (crew chief). They have a lot more experience than I do here. The track’s going to get a lot tighter.”
Kligerman, in his only other ARCA start earlier this year, won the pole and race on the New Jersey Motorsports Park road course.
Kyle Benjamin, who was fastest in final practice, qualified second at 22.491 seconds (109.804 mph). Benjamin, in the No. 28 MDM Hillman-Ranier Racing Chevrolet, finished second last time out at Iowa.
“Track’s going to change a lot tonight,” Benjamin said. “We tried to be a little loose for practice and we knew we’d be a little free in qualifying. It’s hard to adjust for this race tonight. We know the track’s going to tighten up…question is, how much?”
Benjamin’s teammate Travis Miller qualified third in the No. 8 Chevrolet. Miller, making his ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards debut, circled the Lucas Oil short track in 22.503 seconds (109.745 mph).
Rookie Bret Holmes, with ARCA champ Grant Enfinger crew-chiefing, qualified fourth in the No. 23 Southern States Bank-Veterans Oil Chevrolet.
Cunningham Motorsports’ Myatt Snider qualified fifth in the No. 22 Original Louisiana Hot Sauce Ford. Justin Haley qualified sixth in the No. 74 Braun Racing Chevrolet. Snider’s Cunningham teammate and point leader Chase Briscoe qualified seventh in the No. 77 Big Tine Ford. Fifteen-year-old Christian Eckes was the fastest among his Venturini Motorsports teammates, qualifying eighth in the No. 15 New York Bus Sales Toyota.
Chad Finley, in the only steel-bodied car in the top-10, qualified ninth in the No. 51 Auto Value Parts Stores-Air Lift Toyota. Venturini Motorsports’ Dalton Sargeant qualified 10th in the No. 55 Toyota Racing Development-Windows 10 Toyota.
Here’s the complete starting lineup.
- Parker Kligerman
- Kyle Benjamin
- Travis Miller
- Bret Holmes
- Myatt Snider
- Justin Haley
- Chase Briscoe
- Christian Eckes
- Chad Finley
- Dalton Sargeant
- Dylan Marti
- Brady Boswell
- Matt Kurzejewski
- Tom Hessert
- Gus Dean
- Brian Finney
- Josh Williams
- Ty Majeski
- A.J. Fike
- Bobby Gerhart
- Scott Reeves
- Thomas Praytor
- Rick Clifton
- Ray Ciccarelli
- Chris Bailey Jr.
- Dustin Knowles
- Mike Basham
- Richard Hauck
- Mike Senica
- Con Nicolopoulos
- Wayne Peterson
- Billy Alger
- Brad Smith
