Brent Crews wins pole for NASCAR Truck Series race at Watkins Glen

NASCAR racing usually entails drivers bridging the gap between the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. That was on full display at Watkins Glen on Friday during NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series qualifying. 

Brent Crews, who was fastest in Friday's Truck Series practice session, won the pole with a fastest-lap of 70.222 seconds around the New York road course, but Dystany Spurlock, who was attempting to become the first Black woman to compete in the top-three series of NASCAR, came up just shy of making the field. 

Spurlock, along with Toni Breidinger, failed to make the field for Friday's Bully Hill Vineyards 176. Spurlock was faster than both Stephen Mallozzi and Natalie Decker in qualifying, but missed the show due to her No. 69 MBM Motorsports truck lacking owner points. 

Breidinger outpaced four drivers in qualifying but suffered the same fate as Spurlock.

For Crews, 18, the pole is the first of his Truck Series career.

"Everything's been really smooth so far," Crews told Fox Sports. 

Notable qualifying results

Ty Majeski will join Crews on the front row, with Daniel Hemric, Connor Mosack and Connor Zilisch rounding out the top five. Gio Ruggiero, points leader Kaden Honeycutt, Shane van Gisbergen, Ben Rhodes and Carson Hocevar completed the top 10 qualifiers. 

Other notable qualifying efforts include Chandler Smith in 11th, Layne Riggs in 13th, AJ Allmendinger in 16th, Adam Andretti in 21st and Ross Chastain in 33rd. Decker will start last (36th) after posting a qualifying lap of 78.998 seconds. 

The Bully Hill Vineyards 176 will go green shortly after 4:30 p.m. ET, with coverage on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Pre-race coverage will begin at 4 p.m. ET on NRN.