In the qualifying session at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday afternoon, Jeb Burton would score the pole for the EnjoyIllinois.com 225. He would lap the track with a lap of 30.831 seconds behind the wheel of his No. 4 Arrowhead Chevrolet Silverado. It marks his fifth pole and 12th top 10 start this year.
“Heading to Chicago, my team and I couldn’t be more prepared to do it again,” Burton said. “We had a good truck in Kentucky and we’re taking it to Chicago hoping for similar results. I’ve been studying film a lot and even though we’ve never raced at this track, I feel like we’ll be a real contender come Friday night. There’s no time to slow down now.”
Ty Dillon qualified his truck second, about 94 hundreths off of Burton’s time. It marks his 12th top 10 start of the season.
“We’ve had some really fast trucks recently,” Dillon commented. “We just haven’t gotten the finishes that we deserved. Last weekend was a true testament to how hard this Bass Pro Shops team works each week. They could have given up after our alternator died, but they kept their heads up and kept digging. This is what a championship caliber team is made out of. We’re not out of this thing yet. We’ll keep working towards wins and those wins will get us closer to the championship.”
Burton’s Turner-Scott Motorsports teammate Miguel Paludo qualified third as he looks to better his eighth place finish from two years ago.
“I can’t wait to get to Chicagoland,” Paludo said. “I’m very proud to be representing BRANDT do Brasil. A lot of people think of Brazil as beaches and big cities, but agriculture and companies like BRANDT play a huge role in many parts of the country, including in the south where I grew up. Chicagoland is BRANDT’s home track and they always have a huge number of guests supporting our team at the racetrack. I don’t think there would be anything more special than to go to victory lane in front of BRANDT while representing my home country. I’ve run well in Chicago in the past and we’re bringing a chassis that we’ve been very successful with so far, so I think this is going to be a great weekend.”
Justin Lofton and Brendan Gaughan rounded out the top five. Joey Coulter qualified sixth, followed by his truck owner Kyle Busch in seventh and points leader Matt Crafton in eighth. Crafton has a 37 points lead over James Buescher as he looks for his 16th top 10 finish in 16 races this season.
“We’ve been up-and-down there — decent, but not great,” Crafton said. “But for sure, it’s time to take our game to another level this weekend.”
Buescher will start ninth as he looks for his second straight win following last week’s win at Iowa Speedway.
“I couldn’t be more excited about going back to Chicagoland Speedway, especially coming off a huge win for our Turner Scott Motorsports team last weekend at Iowa Speedway,” Buescher said. “I think it goes without saying that this style of track falls right into our wheelhouse, and I feel like our Rheem team will be able to come out of here with another solid finish and hopefully our third victory of the season.”
Austin Dillon qualified 10th.
The EnjoyIllinois.com 225 will take the green flag tonight at Chicagoland Speedway at 8pm EST. Live coverage can seen on Fox Sports 1.
