Christian Eckes is officially a pole winner in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series.
The 18-year-old topped the charts on Friday evening (Feb. 15) with a speed of 182.604 miles per hour in just his fifth Truck Series attempt. He’ll start from the pole for the NextEra Energy Resources 250 running the No. 51 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports. KBM took two of the top three spots as they look to win the season-opening race with their owner, Kyle Busch, sitting this one out.
David (182.556 mph) and Todd Gilliland (181.686 mph) qualified second and third. Harrison Burton (181.357 mph) completed a Toyota sweep of the first two rows, while Grant Enfinger‘s Ford (181.357 mph) was fifth. Enfinger was one of five drivers from Thorsport Racing who qualified as they expand their program for 2019.
Chevrolet took positions sixth through ninth with Sheldon Creed, Stewart Friesen, Brett Moffitt and Clay Greenfield. Austin Hill’s Toyota rounded out the top 10.
39 trucks attempted the race for 32 spots, so seven were sent home. Norm Benning, Korbin Forrister, Codie Rohrbaugh, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Jason White, Spencer Davis and Austin Theriault all failed to qualify. Josh Reaume earned the final provisional spot over Jo Cobb as he bought owner points for GMS Racing’s No. 25 Toyota in the offseason.
NEXTERA ENERGY 250 QUALIFYING RESULTS
The NextEra Energy Resources starts later Friday night at 7 p.m./et and will air on FOX Sports 1.
About the author
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020. Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
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