Brent Crews claims first Truck career pole at Watkins Glen

Brent Crews won the pole position for the Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen (Watkins Glen International) on Friday, May 8.

The event’s starting lineup at Watkins Glen International was determined through a single qualifying session that spanned 30 minutes. During this session, 38 participants competed on slick tires due to the wet conditions and were tasked with posting the fastest qualifying lap. At the conclusion of the session, the competitor with the fastest time was awarded pole position.

Crews, who was the fastest competitor during practice earlier on Friday, wheeled his No. 1 Mobil 1/TRICON Garage Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry to a pole-winning lap at 125.602 mph in 70.222 seconds. Crews’ lap was enough for him to claim the top-starting spot for Friday’s main event over Ty Majeski.

With the pole, Crews, an 18-year-old native from Hickory, North Carolina, became the 150th competitor overall to win a pole position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division and the fifth pole winner of the 2026 season. Crews’ pole was the first of the 2026 season for both TRICON Garage and Toyota. This weekend’s event at The Glen marks Crews first of four Truck events he will be competing at with TRICON Garage, as Crews also primarily competes in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Crews will share the front row with Majeski, the latter of whom had the fastest lap at 125.043 mph in 70.536 seconds. This marks Majeski’s second time starting on the front row for this season, and since he took over the iconic No. 88 Menards/ThorSport Racing Ford F-150 entry, previously piloted by three-time champion Matt Crafton. Majeski qualified on the pole position for this year’s season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway while driving the No. 88 entry in February.

Daniel Hemric, Connor Mosack, and Connor Zilisch, the latter of whom was the second-fastest in practice, will start in the top five, respectively. Giovanni Ruggiero, Kaden Honeycutt, Shane van Gisbergen, Ben Rhodes, and Carson Hocevar completed the top-10 starting grid, respectively.

Notably, Layne Riggs, whose team changed the transmission, qualified in 13th place, two spots behind teammate Chandler Smith (11th). In addition, the following names that include Grant Enfinger, Christian Eckes, AJ Allmendinger, Tyler Ankrum, Stewart Friesen, Adam Andretti, Corey LaJoie, Justin Haley, rookie Brenden Queen, rookie Mini Tyrrell, Wesley Slimp, Ross Chastain and Natalie Decker qualified 12th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 21st, 23rd, 25th, 29th, 30th, 32nd, 33rd and 36th, respectively.

With 38 competitors vying for 36 starting spots, Toni Breidinger and Dystany Spurlock, the latter of whom was attempting to become the first African American female competitor to compete within any of NASCAR’s top three national touring series, were the two competitors who did not qualify for the main event.

Watkins Glen – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:

1. Brent Crews, 125.602 mph, 70.222 seconds
2. Ty Majeski, 125.043 mph, 70.536 seconds
3. Daniel Hemric, 124.816 mph, 70.664 seconds
4. Connor Mosack, 124.689 mph, 70.736 seconds
5. Connor Zilisch, 124.687 mph, 70.737 seconds
6. Giovanni Ruggiero, 124.524 mph, 70.830 seconds
7. Kaden Honeycutt, 124.469 mph, 70.861 seconds
8. Shane van Gisbergen, 124.372 mph, 70.916 seconds
9. Ben Rhodes, 124.313 mph, 70.950 seconds
10. Carson Hocevar, 124.290 mph, 70.963 seconds
11. Chandler Smith, 124.252 mph, 70.985 seconds
12. Grant Enfinger, 124.215 mph, 71.006 seconds
13. Layne Riggs, 124.138 mph, 71.050 seconds
14. Tanner Gray, 124.016 mph, 71.120 seconds
15. Christian Eckes, 123.956 ph, 71.154 seconds
16. AJ Allmendinger, 123.901 mph, 71.186 seconds
17. Jake Garcia, 123.637 mph, 71.338 seconds
18. Tyler Ankrum, 123.587 mph, 71.367 seconds
19. Stewart Friesen, 123.205 mph, 71.588 seconds
20. Tyler Reif, 123.198 mph, 71.592 seconds
21. Adam Andretti, 123.191 mph, 71.596 seconds
22. Andres Perez De Lara, 123.162 mph, 71.613 seconds
23. Corey LaJoie, 122.956 seconds
24. Cole Butcher, 122.716 mph, 71.873 seconds
25. Justin Haley, 122.327 mph, 72.102 seconds
26. Kris Wright, 122.242 mph, 72.152 seconds
27. Dawson Sutton, 121.869 mph, 72.373 seconds
28. Timmy Hill, 121.618 mph, 72.522 seconds
29. Brenden Queen, 121.366 mph, 72.673 seconds
30. Mini Tyrrell, 120.698 mph, 73.075 seconds
31. Nathan Nicholson, 120.426 mph, 73.240 seconds
32. Wesley Slimp, 120.200 mph, 73.378 seconds
33. Ross Chastain, 119,181 mph, 74.005 seconds
34. Jackson Lee, 118.778 mph, 74.256 seconds
35. Stephen Mallozzi, 114.355 mph, 77.128 seconds
36. Natalie Decker, 111.648 mph, 78.998 seconds

The 2026 Bully Hill Vineyards 176 at The Glen is scheduled to occur on Friday, May 8, and air at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network, and SiriusXM.