QUALIFYING: Ty Gibbs speeds to General Tire Pole Award at Phoenix

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ty Gibbs, the freshly crowned ARCA Menards Series champion, is looking to finish his dominant 2021 season with a strong run in the Arizona Lottery 100 at Phoenix Raceway, the finale for the ARCA Menards Series West.

His speed in a combined practice/qualifying session Saturday morning at the one-mile paved tri-oval suggests the 19-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver indeed has a chance to end the year on a high note.

Ty Gibbs set the best lap in the 90-minute session at 26.654 seconds (135.064 mph). The driver who led the ARCA Menards Series field to green 15 times in 20 races this season will do so in the West Series for the second time in 2021; he also won the General Tire Pole Award for the West Series’ season opener at Phoenix in March, a combination event with the ARCA Menards Series.

Saturday’s Arizona Lottery 100, the ninth of nine West Series races this season, is a standalone West Series event.

Gibbs’ JGR teammate Sammy Smith will join him on the front row to start Saturday’s race after qualifying second.

Taylor Gray, Jake Garcia and Daniel Dye rounded out the top five in qualifying.

Of the seven drivers who enter the West Series season finale with chances to win the 2021 championship, the highest qualifier was Trevor Huddleston in 13th. P.J. Pedroncelli qualified 14th ahead of Jesse Love in 15th. Jake Drew will line up 17th, a few spots ahead of Cole Moore in 20th and Joey Iest in 21st. Todd Souza qualified 23rd.

The Arizona Lottery 100 is scheduled to take the green flag at noon MT / 3 p.m. ET. The race will be shown live on NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass with radio coverage available on MRN and Sirius XM (XM channel 391, online channel 981).

Arizona Lottery 100 at Phoenix Raceway: Qualifying results