Qualifying Washout Puts Hemric On Bristol Truck Pole

Daniel Hemric speaks to the media Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Mother Nature stole the Kennametal Pole Award away from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series field on Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Persistent off-and-on showers throughout the morning and early afternoon led to the cancellation of both practice and qualifying for the Weather Guard Truck Race at The Last Great Colosseum, forcing the starting lineup to be set by the NASCAR Rule Book.

With the grid set by the performance metric formula from the previous week – factoring in 35 percent of a truck’s owner point position, 25 percent of the truck’s last race finish, 25 percent of the driver’s race finish (if applicable), and 15 percent of the fastest lap position – Daniel Hemric lines up on the pole.

The McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver won the series’ most recent race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and had a field-leading metric score of 1.9.

Though Hemric will have the best seat in the house when the green flag waves, he admitted that “going in blind will be a bit of a challenge” as far as adapting to race trim in the early going.

“This is honestly going to be my first time in this scenario [no practice with a green racetrack] in quite some time,” Hemric told Motorsports Hotspot Friday during his pre-race media availability. “I think back to maybe some of our COVID racing [during the pandemic, when practice was eliminated] as a guide, but just looking at speeds and prep as I reacclimate myself to these places in this series, the pace is just exceptionally fast. I would expect a lot of the standard Bristol stuff that we see in practice to be how we start the race, where the first set of tires will probably wear really heavily.

“It’s going to put a lot of decisions on the crew chief side, as far as what they want to do for us and how they want to approach the end of stage one, to set us up as best as possible for the end of the race,” Hemric added. “For myself, [starting on pole] is a chance to control the race early, and if we can keep that control while still being fluid throughout the night … I believe we’ll set ourselves up to have a good chance [at the win].

“The track is going to change, and we have to be ready to change along with it.”

Joining Hemric on the front row will be his MHR teammate Tyler Ankrum, who also finished second to Hemric last time out at Martinsville and is chasing his first Truck Series victory since 2019.

Front Row Motorsports’ Chandler Smith starts third as the highest Ford driver in the lineup, flanked by two-time season winner Corey Heim, who rolls fourth in a TRICON Garage-prepared Toyota.

ThorSport Racing’s Jake Garcia closed out the top five on the grid, followed by two-time series champion Ben Rhodes, defending titlist Ty Majeski, last fall’s Bristol Truck Series winner Layne Riggs, and rookie-of-the-year contender Andres Perez de Lara.

NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson, who is competing in all three races this weekend at Bristol, starts 11th in the No. 07 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports. It’s his second Truck Series start of the year following his win at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway three weeks ago.

Larson has won his last two Truck Series appearances dating back to 2023, and hopes to join Kyle Busch as just the second driver in history to win in all three NASCAR national divisions on the same weekend.

Notables starting deeper in the field include recent Xfinity Series winner Brandon Jones (13th), back with TRICON Garage; Niece Motorsports’ Kaden Honeycutt (22nd); CR7 Motorsports’ Grant Enfinger (24th); three-time series champion Matt Crafton (27th); and dirt star-turned asphalt racer Corey Day (29th).

Parker Kligerman, who crossed the finish line first in the season opener at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway in February before being disqualified in post-race technical inspection, rolls off last on the 35-truck grid in his and Henderson Motorsports’ first race back since the Daytona DQ.

With only 35 drivers entered, no one missed the field for the sixth of 25 Truck Series events this year.

Broadcast coverage of the Weather Guard Truck Race at Bristol is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

Rain chances remain around 40 percent until 8 p.m. ET, when they drop below 20 percent for the rest of the night. However, should a contingency plan be needed, FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass reported mid-week that teams were warned to prepare for a possible Sunday morning race if Friday is rained out.

RACER’s Kelly Crandall confirmed that Larson will run both the Truck Series and Cup Series races on Sunday should weather create the possible doubleheader.

As of 5:30 p.m. ET, track drying efforts were in full swing at the half-mile concrete high banks.