Corey Day has been awarded the pole position for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 22.
The event’s starting lineup was initially going to be determined through a single-truck, single-lap qualifying session. In the format, a total of 37 competitors vying for 36 starting spots would cycle around Charlotte Motor Speedway once to post the fastest lap amongst one another, and the competitor who posted the fastest single lap would be awarded the pole position.
Due to inclement weather, the event’s starting lineup was established through a qualifying metric formula per the NASCAR rule book. The series practice session, originally scheduled for Friday before qualifying, was also canceled. As a result, the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST entry, which won last Friday’s Truck event at Dover Motor Speedway with the late Kyle Busch and is currently leading the 2026 Truck owner’s standings, was awarded the pole position.
Busch was initially scheduled to compete in the Truck event at Charlotte. Due to his death from a severe illness that involved hospitalization, Corey Day will pilot the entry for his first Truck start of the 2026 season. The 20-year-old Day from Clovis, California, has made a total of 13 Truck starts between the 2024 and 2025 seasons, with the latter season having him compete in nine events in the No. 7 entry for Spire Motorsports.
Day will share the front row with Layne Riggs, the latter of whom is currently in second place in the driver’s standings. His No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford F-150 entry is third in the owner’s standings. Riggs is coming off a third-place result from last Friday’s Truck event at Dover.
Kaden Honeycutt, Ty Majeski and Brandon Jones will start in the top five, respectively. Leland Honeyman Jr., Christian Eckes, Chandler Smith, Jake Garcia and Corey LaJoie will start in the top 10, respectively.
With 37 competitors vying for 36 starting spots, Caleb Costner was the lone competitor who did not qualify for the main event.
Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Corey Day
- Layne Riggs
- Kadeon Honeycutt
- Ty Majeski
- Brandon Jones
- Leland Honeyman Jr.
- Christian Eckes
- Chandler Smith
- Jake Garcia
- Corey LaJoie
- Stewart Friesen
- Justin Haley
- William Sawalich
- Ross Chastain
- Brenden Queen
- Giovanni Ruggiero
- Ben Rhodes
- Grant Enfinger
- Tanner Gray
- Kris Wright
- Tyler Ankrum
- Conner Jones
- Dawson Sutton
- Connor Zilisch
- Spencer Boyd
- Frankie Muniz
- Andres Perez De Lara
- Daniel Hemric
- Travis Pastrana
- Mini Tyrrell
- Cole Butcher
- Luke Baldwin
- Josh Reaume
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Timmy Hill
The 2026 North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Friday, May 22, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM.
