Nelson Piquet Jr. Right at Home With Pocono Truck Pole

[media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”219″][/media-credit]Nelson Piquet Jr., who was racy in practice behind the wheel of his No. 30 Autotrac Chevrolet, scored the coveted pole position for the Camping World Truck race at Pocono. Piquet’s speed was 169.504 mph and a time of 53.096 seconds, a new track qualifying record.

This was Piquet’s second pole of the 2012 season. His first pole was in Rockingham in the spring of this year.

“I feel at home when I come to Pocono,” Piquet Jr. said. “Everyone is so welcoming and there are some diehard race fans in Pennsylvania.”

“After a weekend off, I’m always more than ready to get back to the racetrack,” Piquet Jr. continued. “It’s going to be an exciting race at the ‘Tricky Triangle.’

“I would love to get my first NCWTS win at a track I feel so welcomed at.”

What Piquet Jr. did not share was that he really did not off the weekend off. The young driver completed the Chicago Rock’n’Roll Half-Marathon, with a speed of 2 hours, 18 minutes and 43 seconds, as well as celebrated his 27^th birthday.

Piquet Jr., however, will have a challenge on his hands, having to battle Richard Childress Racing phenom Ty Dillon for the race win.

Dillon qualified his No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, in the outside pole position at a speed of 169.252 mph and a time of 53.175 seconds.

This was Dillon’s ninth top-10 start for the 2012 season.

“I’m excited to see what it’s really like to race on the new surface,” Dillon said. “I had a lot of fun there last year and earned a win in the ARCA Racing Series.”

Miguel Paludo, with a speed of 168.631 mph and a time of 53.371 seconds, posted his first ever top-10 start at Pocono Raceway. This is the sixth in eleven races this season for the driver of the No. 32 Duroline Brakes Chevrolet.

Joey Coulter, who had to go out last in the qualifying run due to Justin Lofton’s spin, qualified fourth in his No. 22 RCR/darrellgwynnfoundation.com Chevrolet. James Buescher, behind the wheel of the No. 31 Koike Aronson/Ransome Chevrolet, rounded out the top five.

Starting Lineup
Pocono Mountains 125, Pocono Raceway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/truckseries/qual.php?race=11
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Pos.	No.	Driver	Make	Speed	Time
===========================================
1	30	Nelson Piquet Jr.	Chevrolet	169.504	53.096
2	3	Ty Dillon*	Chevrolet	169.252	53.175
3	32	Miguel Paludo	Chevrolet	168.631	53.371
4	22	Joey Coulter	Chevrolet	168.53	53.403
5	31	James Buescher	Chevrolet	168.143	53.526
6	2	Tim George Jr.	Chevrolet	167.645	53.685
7	5	Paulie Harraka*	Ford	167.448	53.748
8	17	Timothy Peters	Toyota	167.33	53.785
9	88	Matt Crafton	Toyota	167.299	53.796
10	9	Ron Hornaday	Chevrolet	167.119	53.854
11	9	John Wes Townley*	Toyota	166.793	53.959
12	11	Todd Bodine	Toyota	166.698	53.99
13	13	Johnny Sauter	Toyota	166.396	54.088
14	23	Jason White	Ford	165.99	54.22
15	33	Cale Gale*	Chevrolet	165.63	54.338
16	18	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	165.596	54.349
17	29	Parker Kligerman	Ram	165.484	54.386
18	98	Dakoda Armstrong*	Toyota	165.484	54.386
19	99	Bryan Silas*	Ford	164.423	54.737
20	8	Ross Chastain*	Toyota	163.304	55.112
21	93	Dennis Setzer	Chevrolet	161.241	55.817
22	7	Jeff Agnew	Toyota	161.005	55.899
23	84	Chris Fontaine	Chevrolet	159.691	56.359
24	10	Jennifer Jo Cobb	Ram	169.665	56.368
25	27	C E Falk	Chevrolet	159.295	56.499
26	39	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	158.73	56.7
27	28	Wes Burton	Chevrolet	158.59	56.75
28	38	Chris Jones	Chevrolet	158.231	56.879
29	174	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	157.312	57.211
30	282	Sean Corr	Ford	156.125	57.646
31	225	Brandon Knupp	Chevrolet	155.491	57.881
32	159	Kyle Martel	Chevrolet	151.172	59.535
33	0	Chris Lafferty	Ram	149.43	60.229
34	57	Norm Benning	Chevrolet	147.278	61.109
35	6	Justin Lofton+	Chevrolet	–	–
36	175	Adam Edwards	Chevrolet	131.886	68.241