NEWTON, Iowa –Â Chandler Smith backed up his performance in practice by taking his forth General Tire Pole Award of the season for Friday’s ARCA Menards Series Fans with Benefits 150 at Iowa Speedway.
Smith turned a fast lap at 24.182 seconds/130.262 mph to edge his Venturini Motorsports teammate Michael Self by one one-thousanth of a second. In addition to being Smith’s fourth pole of the season, it is Venturini Motorsport’s 13th pole in 14 races so far.
“To say it’s hot is an understatement,” Smith said of the ambient and track conditions at Iowa Speedway. “It’s not in the car and we’re are just slipping and sliding out there on the track. The sun will go down and the track conditions will be totally different for the race, though.”
Current series championship leader Self qualified with a lap of 24.183 seconds/130.257 mph. Combined with Christian Eckes’ lap of 24.325 seconds/129.496 mph, it gives Venturini Motorsports a sweep of the top three qualifers. Corey Heim, who qualified at 24.329 seconds/129.475 mph, and Ty Gibbs, who qualified at 24.403 seconds/129.082 mph, rounded out the top five.