Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota) won his first General Tire Pole Award of the year at Pensacola, posting a fast lap of 16.990 seconds/105.945 miles per hour to earn the top spot in the qualifying session. Smith won the pole in his first attempt of the year, marking his fifth career General Tire Pole Award overall. Smith is now tied with Daytona polesitter and Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) with one General Tire Pole Award each to start the 2019 season. Smith’s speed in qualifying for the ARCA Pensacola 200 Presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions earned him the new track record for the ARCA Menards Series.
A total of 14 drivers broke the previous track record of 101.170 miles per hour set in May 1994 by Gary Bradberry. Smith edged out Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Oil Toyota) by just two one-thousandths of a second to take the pole in a highly competitive General Tire Pole Qualifying session. It was Smith’s first pole since Madison last summer. The pole at Madison was the final pole in a record-breaking streak for Smith in 2018. Smith was the first driver in the modern era of the ARCA Menards Series to start on the pole for his first four career AMS starts.
Last year, Smith and Sheldon Creed tied at the top of the General Tire Pole Award standings with four pole wins each. Creed got the nod as the season-long award winner on the tiebreaker based on races started, adding to a list of impressive feats he pulled off during his championship season.
Smith will be part of a group trying to pick up the seventh consecutive General Tire Pole Award for Toyota in the next race at Salem Speedway on April 14. The current streak has been intact for Toyota since the race at the DuQuoin dirt mile last September and spans across every type of racetrack that the ARCA Menard Series currently competes on. Five different drivers have won General Tire Pole Awards for Toyota during the streak, with the only repeat pole winner being Christian Eckes. Eckes qualified seventh at Pensacola while attempting to back up his Daytona pole run.
Last year at the Salem Speedway, Chandler Smith won the General Tire Pole Award in the spring running at the historic half-mile. Smith came up just short of breaking yet another track record held by Gary Bradberry, posting the fastest qualifying lap at Salem since 1994. Zane Smith, now an ARCA Menards Series graduate in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, won the General Tire Pole Award in the fall event at Salem.
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