QUALIFYING: Sammy Smith Takes General Tire Pole At 5 Flags On Last Practice Lap

PENSACOLA, Fla. — What originally was scheduled as a two-lap single car qualifying session ahead of Saturday’s Pensacola 200 Presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions instead became a 30-minute open session when practice was delayed by rain and combined with qualifying.

Sammy Smith took advantage with the last of the 27 laps he ran Saturday afternoon in practice/qualifying.

Smith’s best lap time of 17.493 seconds / 102.898 mph earned him the General Tire Pole Award for the evening’s 200-lap race at the half-mile 5 Flags Speedway, the second event of the 2021 ARCA Menards Series East season.

Smith, the 16-year-old rookie from Johnston, Iowa, who’s driving the No. 18 Engine Ice Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the East Series this season, picked up his first General Tire Pole Award for just his second series start.

RELATED: Complete Qualifying Results

POLE! Excited to lead the field to the green in my @EngineIce @ToyotaRacing Camry tonight at @5FlagsSpeedway!@JoeGibbsRacing | @AdamsPolishes pic.twitter.com/PaoROoHXyG

— Sammy Smith (@sammysmithSS) February 27, 2021

Taylor Gray will roll off second Saturday evening after posting a lap of 17.547 seconds / 102.582 mph in the afternoon session. Rajah Caruth (17.630 seconds / 102.099 mph) qualified third, followed by Daniel Dye (17.719 seconds / 101.586 mph) in fourth and Mason Diaz (17.778 seconds / 101.249 mph) in fifth.

Joey Iest, Gray’s DGR teammate, qualified sixth. Max Gutiérrez, who’s coming off an epic win in the series opener almost three weeks ago at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway, qualified seventh.

Carson Kvapil, Parker Retzlaff and Stephanie Moyer rounded out the top 10 in qualifying.

The Pensacola 200 Presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. CT / 6 p.m. ET on Saturday. The race will stream live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. Live race audio is available on ARCARacing.com.

A delayed broadcast of Saturday’s race is scheduled to air Thursday, March 4, at 11 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Qualifying results/starting lineup for Pensacola 200 Presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions