Qualifying: Ty Gibbs wins General Tire Pole Award at Salem Speedway

SALEM, Ind. — Ty Gibbs hopes leave Salem Speedway on Saturday as the 2021 Sioux Chief Showdown champion while setting himself up to also win the 2021 ARCA Menards Series championship.

He’ll have a good chance to do just that in the Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 presented by Scott County Tourism judging by his speed in the evening’s two-lap, single-car qualifying session.

Gibbs set the best lap in the session at 17.176 seconds (116.325 mph) around the half-mile paved oval in Salem, Indiana. It marks the 18-year-old’s 10th General Tire Pole Award of the ARCA Menards Series season.

Including races Gibbs started on the pole based on points, Saturday night’s race will be the 13th he has led the field to the green flag in the series this year.

Gibbs needs to finish 17th or better at Salem to win the Showdown title. Including the point he earned for Saturday’s Pole Award, Gibbs also holds a 27-point lead over second-place Corey Heim in the overall ARCA Menards Series championship standings entering the penultimate race of the season.

Taylor Gray will join Gibbs on the front row to start the Salem race after qualifying second.

Nick Sanchez, Jesse Love and Heim rounded out the top 10 in qualifying.

Saturday night’s Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 presented by Scott County Tourism at Salem is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. ET. The race will broadcast live on MAVTV Motorsports Network with a live stream available on NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass.

Qualifying results: Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 presented by Scott County Tourism