[media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”252″]
[/media-credit]Richard Childress Racing driver and NCWTS track qualifying record holder scores his third career Kentucky Speedway pole
SPARTA, Ky. – Driver Austin Dillon delivered his first NASCAR Nationwide Series Kentucky Speedway pole award and will lead tonight’s 43-car Feed The Children 300 field to the 7:30 p.m. green flag after turning a 172.199 mph (31.359 seconds) lap in the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing (RCR) car.
Dillon, who set the current Kentucky Speedway NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) qualifying record with a 179.868 (30.022 seconds) lap on Oct. 1, 2011, will share tonight’s front row with Kevin Harvick, Inc., (KHI) owner Kevin Harvick, who knocked out a 171.401 mph (31.505 seconds) qualifying effort in his No. 33 KHI ride.
“It was really good. Actually that first lap, it worried me because we got a really bad push and it was too tight. I over drove a little bit. We were able to recover on the second lap which has been a slower lap for us all weekend,” Dillon said. “That really shows you how fast our car is. The BASS Pro Shops team is doing a good job this weekend and I can’t wait to get in the race tonight when it cools down and see how our car reacts to the different temperature.”
He will make his NNS track debut owning three career Kentucky Speedway pole awards. He earned his first at the track on Sept. 3, 2010 for a 225-mile NCWTS race.
Harvick will make his second straight and fourth career NNS Kentucky Speedway start tonight. He earned a victory in the series inaugural 300-mile event at the track on June 16, 2001, placed second to Penske Racing’s Brad Keselowski in last season’s Feed The Children 300 and owns a total of three top-10 NNS finishes at the facility through three career starts.
Keselowski qualified third with a 170.611 mph (31.651 seconds) lap. He took last season’s Feed The Children 300 title from the fifth spot on the starting grid.
Tickets for tonight’s race remain on sale through the tickets page of this Web site, by phone at (859) 578-2300, and at the Kentucky Speedway gates and corporate offices at the track.
