Race Weekend Central

Ben Kennedy Takes Truck Series Pole After Scoring Error

Frontstretch’s Truck Series content is presented by American Trucks

UPDATE: After further review, NASCAR has determined that Brad Keselowski did not start his final qualifying run before time ran out in Saturday’s final round of time trials for the . Ben Kennedy was the only driver to make his final run before the session concluded, and will now start from the pole position.  Keselowski will fall back on his time from the previous round and start tenth in tonight’s race. Erik Jones moves to the outside of the front row.  The rest of the revised top 5 includes Cameron Hayley, Daniel Suarez, and John Wes Townley.

Justin Boston now starts sixth, with Joe Nemechek, James Buescher, Spencer Gallagher, and Keselowski round out the top 10 for the Hyundai Construction Equipment 200.

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Tick tock, tick tock.

Brad Keselowski and Ben Kennedy were not to be fooled by the clock. Standing as the only two to post a lap in the final 12-driver round for the pole, they will start on the front row for Saturday evening’s Hyundai Construction Equipment 200.

Keselowski ran a lap of 177.045 mph (31.314 seconds) to score his second-career Camping World Truck Series pole, and his first since 2007.

“I was just surprised nobody went,” Keselowski told Fox Sports 1. “I knew we were out of time and I guess I just barely skimmed by as time expired. That’s always part of the fun. Qualifying with the trucks is always a bit more gamesmanship than other kind of qualifying because they draft so much.

“We played it just right and got the Cooper Standard Ford up on the pole so that’s great and proud of everybody on the team.”

Kennedy was the only driver to complete a lap in the final five-minute round until the final seconds. Starting in second, it is a career-high qualifying effort for the 23-year-old.

“We were the only truck that went out there in the beginning. Ill be honest, that was wide open,” Kennedy told Fox Sports 1. “That was as much as that thing has without a drafting partner out there. I think we have a really really good truck for tonight. I think we’ll be good on the long runs.”

A number of big-name drivers didn’t even get a chance to go for the pole position as they missed advancing to the final 12. Matt Crafton, defending champion for the last two seasons, along with Thorsport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter, Ty Dillon and Timothy Peters all missed the final round and will start 13th through 16th respectively.

“We just weren’t ready,” Crafton stated. “We just got caught we our pants down but this Menard’s Toyota Tundra will be fine in the race.”

Last week’s pole winner at Daytona International Speedway, Ty Dillon, will start from the 14th position.

“We had good speed on our own today,” Dillon said to Fox Sports 1. “Really thought we could make it to (final) round without having to draft. We were the first out there and everyone got a pull off us. I’m excited to get back out there for the race tonight.”

Behind the front row of Keselowski and Kennedy, the times reverted to the previous round the set the rest of the top 12 starting spots. Erik Jones will line up third, Cameron Hayley in fourth with Daniel Suarez, John Wes Townley, Justin Boston, Joe Nemechek, James Buescher, Spencer Gallagher, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Hemric completing the top 12.

Nobody failed to qualify.

About the author

Growing up in Easton, Pa., Zach Catanzareti has grown his auto racing interest from fandom to professional. Joining Frontstretch in 2015, Zach enjoys nothing more than being at the track, having covered his first half-season of 18 races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2017. With experience behind the wheel, behind the camera and in the media center, he thrives on being an all-around reporter.

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