SVG misses NASCAR ARCA field in Daytona qualifying; Willie Mullins takes the pole
DAYTONA BEACH — ARCA Menards Series qualifying went into the books on Friday afternoon for a race that was moved to later that night due to rain in the forecast.
But that race lost a little of its star power thanks to a disappointing few laps.
Shane van Gisbergen, the three-time Supercars champ who will run a full-time Xfinity Series season for Kaulig Racing this year, failed to make the ARCA field after losing the draft coming out of the pits for his run. Van Gisbergen, who won the NASCAR Cup Series inaugural Chicago Street Race last summer, was mandated to run in the ARCA event as he'd never run a superspeedway race before.
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However, van Gisbergen was cleared after practice on Thursday and will still run in the Xfinity Series' United Rentals 300, scheduled for Saturday at 5 p.m.
Willie Mullins, meanwhile, earned the pole in the No. 3 Ford with a lap of 48.982 seconds. Tim Richmond (49.003), Jake Finch (49.024), Toni Breidinger (49.044) and Ryan Huff (49.06) rounded out the top five.
Also of note, Marco Andretti, who turned in the fastest time in Thursday's practice session, qualified 26th on Friday.
The 200-mile race is scheduled to start at approximately 10 p.m., after the conclusion of the Craftsman Truck Series Fresh From Florida 250. Qualifying for that event started at 3 p.m. on Friday.
It all leads to the 66th running of the Daytona 500 at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona 500 events: Shane van Gisbergen doesn't make NASCAR ARCA field
