BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Jesse Love is looking to leave the penultimate race of the 2020 ARCA Menards Series West season having extended his 17-point lead over Blaine Perkins in the championship standings.
He’ll have a strong chance to do just that after winning the General Tire Pole Award ahead of Sunday’s NAPA ENEOS 125 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersdield, California.
RELATED: Complete qualifying results at Kern County
Love, 15, posted the best lap time in Sunday’s hour-long practice/qualifying session. He drove his No. 19 NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota around the half-mile oval in 18.159 seconds (99.124 mph) to lead all qualifiers.
Taylor Gray, who will make his fourth ARCA Menards Series West start Sunday and his first at Kern County, qualified second with a lap time of 18.173 seconds (99.048 mph), just 0.014 seconds off Love’s pace.
Mason Diaz (18.250 seconds; 98.630 mph), Jack Wood (18.360 seconds; 98.039 mph) and Ryan Repko (18.363 seconds; 98.023 mph) rounded out the top five in qualifying.
Perkins lost a point to Love in the championship standings with his fifth-place finish — Love finished fourth — in Friday night’s race at All American Speedway in Roseville, California. He qualified 10th (18.528 seconds) for Sunday’s race at Kern County, 0.369 seconds off Love’s pace.
Perkins will round out the top 10 behind Gracie Trotter (18.381 seconds), Gio Scelzi (18.387 seconds), Trevor Huddleston (18.424 seconds) and Holley Hollan (18.496).
Sunday’s NAPA ENEOS 125 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame at Kern County Raceway Park, the 10th of 11 races on the ARCA Menards Seriesz West schedule, is scheduled to take the green flag at 2:05 p.m. PT / 5:05 p.m. ET. The race will air live on TrackPass on NBC Gold.
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