Qualifying: Ty Gibbs takes another General Tire Pole at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. — His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate is the driver aiming for a championship Thursday night in the Bush’s Beans 200, but Ty Gibbs proved in the early evening qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway he is the one to beat in the 200-lap race on the half-mile concrete oval.

Driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Gibbs logged the best lap in the session at 14.859 seconds / 129.134 mph to win his ninth General Tire Pole Award of the 2021 ARCA Menards Series season. Including races he started on the pole based on points, Thursday’s race will mark the 12th time this season the 18-year-old has led the field to green.

With the Bush’s Beans 200 being a combination race between the ARCA Menards Series and the ARCA Menards Series East, Gibbs’ JGR teammate Sammy Smith is in the field, too. Entering the final race of the East Series season, Smith holds a 24-point lead over second-place Daniel Dye in the championship standings.

Smith’s title bid Thursday got off to a great start when he qualified as the outside pole-sitter with a lap time of 15.042 seconds (127.563).

Dye was almost as fast, qualifying third at Bristol with a lap time of 15.203 seconds (126.212 mph).

Jesse Love qualified third ahead of Corey Heim in fifth.

The Bush’s Beans 200 at Bristol, which also represents Round 9 of the 10-race Sioux Chief Showdown, is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. ET. The race will broadcast live on FS1 with a live stream available on the Fox Sports App.

A live radio broadcast of the race will air on MRN and SiriusXM (XM channel 391, online channel 981).

Qualifying results: Bush’s Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway