Will Kimmel Takes Surprise ARCA Pole With Legacy Motor
Will Kimmel with the General Tire Pole Award at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Caleb Carter photo)
CONCORD, N.C. – With a legacy ‘built’ motor powering his No. 69 Ford, Will Kimmel snapped an eight-year ARCA Menards Series qualifying drought Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The nephew of 10-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel toured the 1.5-mile quad-oval in 30.611 seconds (176.407 mph) for his first General Tire Pole Award since 2017 at the DuQuoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds.
It’s Will Kimmel’s first ARCA pole on a pavement track and the second of his 18-year career. Friday night’s General Tire 150 marks his 138th career national ARCA Menards Series start.
“It’s weird saying first [pole] on asphalt. I’m not a dirt racer at all, but it’s a super cool deal for us,” said Kimmel. “Man, just super excited. Such a good deal for my guys. It’s me, Dad, and one other guy, Zach, in the shop full time. Me and Zach keep the cars up, and we’re just trying to figure out the right way to go about the new setup with the bump springs and work through that and what I need to do [as a driver].
“We're definitely getting closer, but there’s some more [speed] still left to be found. I’m super happy, though, to get our race team back on the map where it belongs.”
Joining Kimmel on the front row is 13-time ARCA winner William Sawalich, whose No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team won last year’s Charlotte ARCA race with NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Tanner Gray.
Sawalich is chasing his first ARCA victory of the season after two runner-up finishes in three races.
Point leader Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen rolls from third on the grid alongside his Pinnacle Racing Group teammate, Austin Green, with Isabella Robusto starting fifth in the highest-qualifying Venturini Motorsports entry.
Four different organizations are represented among the top five starting spots at Charlotte.
Sixth through 10th are Truck Series star Grant Enfinger, filling in for Jason Kitzmiller, Patrick Staropoli, Andy Jankowiak, Lavar Scott, and Lawless Alan.
Garrett Mitchell, a YouTube sensation and influencer known on the internet as Cleetus McFarland, starts 11th in a Rette Jones Racing-prepared Ford.
Broadcast coverage of Friday’s General Tire 150 airs at 6 p.m. ET, live on FS1 and the FOX Sports App, with an audio feed available at ARCAracing.com.
Attention Drivers and Race Teams!
Do you need to rev up your brand? At Victory Lane Design, we specialize in one thing, getting you noticed!
It's time to accelerate your brand into the fast lane with Victory Lane Design.
Where Winning Counts!
