In his first start of the 2022 season and his fourth overall, Sammy Smith won his first career ARCA Menards Series pole for tonight’s (March 11) race at Phoenix Raceway.
Smith recorded a pole-winning speed of 133.769 mph around the 1-mile circuit, more than a tenth of a second quicker than second place.
Smith, who recorded two top-five finishes in his three starts last season, will look to convert his front row start into his first career win.
Starting alongside Smith will be Taylor Gray. After a traffic accident in Texas killed team hauler driver Steven Stotts on March 8, there were questions about whether David Gilliland Racing would have another car ready in time by Friday night. Ultimately, the team decided to race, and the team will be racing with heavy hearts for the win tonight.
Jesse Love — last year’s winner at Salem Speedway — will start third, while Nick Sanchez — the winner of last year’s season finale at Kansas Speedway — will start alongside of him in fourth.
Connor Mosack will start fifth, his best qualifying result in four starts. Daniel Dye, who won at Berlin Raceway last summer, will start on the outside of row three in sixth.
Rajah Caruth will start seventh, Parker Chase will start eighth, Jake Drew will start ninth and Toni Breidinger will round out the top 10.
The General Tire 150 at Phoenix Raceway will take place on Friday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. E.T., with TV coverage provided by MAVTV and FloRacing.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly column is “Stat Sheet,” and he formerly wrote "4 Burning Questions" for three years. He also writes commentaries, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Find Stephen on Twitter @stephen_stumpf