After winning the most recent ARCA Menards Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway, Sammy Smith won the pole award for the ARCA event at Salem Speedway on Saturday (Oct. 1).
It’s Smith’s eighth career pole ahead of his his first career start at the 0.555-mile short track. He also tied for the fastest time in the practice session earlier on Saturday.
Smith will lead the 20 drivers to the green flag in the Herr’s Snacks 200 later on Saturday. Because only 20 drivers were entered, all successfully made the 200-lap race.
Taylor Gray qualified second, followed by 2021 ARCA Salem winner Jesse Love in third place.
Rev Racing teammates Rajah Caruth and Nick Sanchez comprise the rest of the starting top five in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Sanchez leads GMS Racing driver Daniel Dye by five points in the championship standings with only two races – Salem and Toledo Speedway – left in the 2022 ARCA season. Dye will start sixth.
Will Kimmel, Conner Jones, Landon Huffman and Greg Van Alst round out the starting top 10 in seventh through 10th place, respectively.
Nate Moeller and Amber Balcaen did not run a qualifying lap. They will start in 18th and 19th place, respectively.
During the practice session, Tim Richmond backed his No. 06 into the wall, sustaining serious damage to the racecar.
Heavy damage to the No. 06. @ARCA_Racing practice Still under red at Salem. pic.twitter.com/tgh6lyAA25
— Charles Krall (@ChasKrall) October 1, 2022
Richmond did not participate in qualifying and it appears unlikely he will compete in the race later on Saturday.
ARCA Qualifying Results from Salem
The ARCA competitors will begin their race at Salem at 4 p.m. ET, with TV coverage provided by MAVTV Motorsports Network and available on FloRacing.
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.