BRISTOL – Several drivers had noteworthy qualifying efforts in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying Friday afternoon in advance of Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Landon Cassill in the No. 40 Hillman Smith Racing Chevrolet was able to capitalize on a solid performance in the first practice session to tie his season-best starting spot of 17th. Cassill also started in the same spot in the season-opening Daytona 500.
“I feel like this was the qualifying effort that we’ve been working towards this year and finally have been able to reap the rewards of our hard work this season,” said Cassill who is sponsorless for Sunday’s race. “We’ve had some good runs, but this is the best we’ve unloaded off the truck so far.
“I’m looking forward to how we can run on Sunday.”
Cassill will run double duty this weekend at BMS. He’ll compete in the Drive To Stop Diabetes 300 for JD Motorsports with Gary Keller in the No. 01 Chevrolet Camaro.
Michael McDowell continues to do well in his stint with Leavine Family Racing. Despite being black flagged in the first round for a blend line violation, the 30-year old recovered nicely.
In his No. 95 Thrivent Financial Ford Fusion, McDowell survived round one of qualifying to post the 19th quickest lap in round two earning his season-best start of the year. Previously, McDowell’s previous best was 23rd at Daytona.
“It’s a great run for us,” said McDowell. “We had a fast car in practice and were 11th, but I got up on the track too early on my first run and got black flagged, so I had an extra heat cycle on the tires that we didn’t need. Our car is really good. Thrivent Financial has done a great job supporting us and giving us the tools that we need to make our race team better, along with Bob and Sharon Leavine.
“Bristol is a place where you can have a small team race well and I don’t think we’ll be the only ones you see that with on Sunday. We were hoping for a little bit more actually, but that’s how this sport goes. You always want a little bit more. I’m just proud of all my guys because qualified 39th at Texas and came back to qualify 19th here at Bristol.”
In four starts this season, the Phoenix, Arizona native’s best finish is 27th at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway on March 1.
BK Racing rookie driver Matt DiBenedetto turned some heads with an impressive qualifying effort on Friday afternoon at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
DiBenedetto made it through a tight round one of knockout qualifying to advance his No. 83 Dustless Blasting Toyota Camry to round two after delivering the 16th quickest lap at the 0.533-mile historic short track.
In the 10-minute round two session, the former XFINITY Series driver bolted to a lap that eventually fell to 22nd fastest overall, but a massive improvement over his previous best qualifying effort of 35th at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway in March.
“I’m so proud of my BK Racing team for their hard work this weekend,” said DiBenedetto, a former development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. “Thank you to Dustless Blasting for their support on our great looking car. It was a great run for us to make the second round of qualifying and end up 22nd. I hope to have a solid run for our team on Sunday.”
All three drivers will start ahead of some of the sports’ finest stars including: Jeff Gordon (23rd), Jimmie Johnson (28th), Greg Biffle (33rd) and Clint Bowyer (37th).
Brendan Gaughan and Ron Hornaday Jr. were not as fortunate and were the two slowest cars, missing the starting field for Sunday’s Food City 500.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
