Qualifying Friday for this weekend’s Classic 3 Championship presented by RCR Racing Museum turned into a history-making day at Rockingham Speedway.
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East competitor C.J. Faison earned his first pole of the season as did UARA-Stars driver Dillon Bassett. Frank Kimmel II claimed his first-ever pole at the one-mile track during qualifying for the Frank Kimmel Street Stock Nationals series’ 75-lap event.
“Our larger track program is definitely on point right now,” said the 19-year-old Faison, who’s making his inaugural appearance at Rockingham. “New Hampshire didn’t go like we planned. Dover went a little better, finished seventh there. I got some momentum going and evidently it transferred over to today.”
Faison locked in the pole with a 146.771-mph lap in a Chevrolet. Joining him on the front row is Darrell Wallace Jr. in a Toyota. He clocked in at 146.705 mph. Rounding out the top five, respectively, are: Coleman Pressley, Corey LaJoie and Brett Moffitt. Point leader Kyle Larson qualified 11th for the 100-lap season finale that will determine the series champion.
Bassett, who trails Travis Swaim by 71 points heading into Saturday’s 75-lap UARA season finale, said he struggled a little in practice due to his Late Model being tight and him overdriving it.
“The combination didn’t hurt us speed-wise,” the 15-year-old Bassett said. “They changed stuff before the last practice. It helped the car a lot and then in qualifying, he [crew chief] changed something else in there and didn’t tell me, so he told me to go out there and drive it. That’s what I did.”
Kimmel II said he’s “never been great at qualifying that one lap”, but Friday he was able to get one clean lap before running through some oil.
Tickets are still available for Saturday’s three Late Model races. Admission is $30 ($15 for children 12 and under) with the grandstands opening at 9 a.m. Racing begins at noon with the 75-lap UARA season finale. Thirty minutes after the UARA race concludes, the 100-lap K&N event begins. Thirty minutes after that series champion is crowned the 75-lap Frank Kimmel Street Stock race gets the green flag.
Rockingham Speedway PR
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