DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Defending ARCA Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 winner James Buescher will start from the pole during Saturday’s season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway after pacing qualifying Friday afternoon.
Buescher won the Menards Pole Award with his 49.575-second lap at 181.543 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Danica Patrick — who will make her stock car debut in Saturday’s event — qualified 12th with a 50.059-second lap at 179.788 mph.
“She’s just another driver in the field and that’s how you have to look at it,” Buescher said. “Hopefully, everyone in our race stays smart and no one over drives while trying to impress the large audience we have for this race.
“They showed us a crash video during the driver’s meeting yesterday and it got our attention,” Buescher added. “I think there were three or four wrecks ahead of me in this race last year that I was able to avoid so hopefully my heart won’t skip too many beats this year.”
Mikey Kile, driving a Venturini Motorsports Toyota, will start alongside Buescher for Saturday’s race after clocking in at 181.258 mph. Kile was fastest among 60 ARCA Racing Series teams who participated in ARCA’s three-day open test at Daytona in December.
“I’ve probably run more than 1,000 laps in my mind in between the December test and this race weekend,” said Kile. “We were hoping for a pole award today but with our qualifying draw and the wind and everything this is the way it worked out.”
Joey Coulter qualified third in the No. 16 Chevrolet, which is sporting a new paint scheme from sponsor Rip It Energy Fuel.
“I think we all thought we were going to be a little bit quicker, but we are thrilled with the way we ran,” said Coulter. “It was consistent with our practice session yesterday and anytime you can keep consistent that’s good. I’m definitely looking forward to tomorrow because I think my car will probably race better than it qualified — at least that’s the goal. We’ll probably just run a few laps in drafting practice later today.”
Penske Racing developmental driver and USAC open-wheel racing regular Dakoda Armstrong qualified fourth followed by Bryan Silas in fifth.
Other notable drivers include former Formula One driver Nelson Piquet, Jr., who qualified the Eddie Sharp Racing No. 6 Toyota in seventh. Indy car driver Milka Duno will start from the 41st position after taking a provisional to make the field. World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Josh Richards used a provisional and will start 43rd.