Gio Ruggiero wins pole award for ARCA East race at Nashville Fairgrounds
In a talented field at Nashville Fairgrounds, Gio Ruggiero was able to claim the pole award for himself ahead of tonight’s race. Ruggiero beat out a field of current and future NASCAR drivers.
Gio Ruggiero got the pole by 0.05 seconds over William Sawalich. Isabella Robusto was third, Connor Zilisch fourth, and Zachary Tinkle was fifth in qualifying. That is a strong showing from Tinkle.
This race is likely going to come down to those first four drivers in the qualifying order. All four are very talented and they have bright futures. Sawalich is a Toyota prospect that has already won races and could get a Truck or Xfinity ride in the near future.
Robusto is also a Toyota prospect and perhaps the best young woman in stock car racing. Of course, Zilisch has two IMSA wins and a handful of other accomplishments at just 17. Ruggiero is a Late Model racer with plenty of great finishes to his record as well.
Here are the full qualifying results from Brett Winningham of Speedway Digest.
The last time Ruggiero, Sawalich, and Zilisch hit the track together was at Dover. That was one of the best ARCA races since I can’t remember when. Zilisch got the win in that one in a race that showed us a lot of good, future NASCAR drivers.
This Nashville Fairgrounds race should also be a fun one. As long as these cars hold up and the favorites stay out of trouble on the track, it will be an interesting race. Yes, Venturini and Joe Gibbs Racing are dominant in the series, but the Pinnacle Racing Group No. 28 has won two races in a row this ARCA season.
I’m very interested to see how Robusto performs on this track. It is almost 3/5ths of a mile long, so just over half a mile. 150 laps, 90 miles of racing. She is a talented racer but still needs experience. She will be faced with a tough challenge today in that lead group.
Pinnacle Racing Group won this race a year ago with Luke Fenhaus behind the wheel. Zilisch is a threat to win no matter what car he is in, no matter what track. We thought after his IMSA success at Daytona and Sebring and his Truck Series race at COTA that he was a road course ace.
Well, he won the ARCA race at Dover and won the CARS Tour Late Model Stock race at Hickory – so what do you call that? Tune into the race tonight at 9:00 PM on FloRacing. See which NASCAR hopeful is going to win in this one. Sawalich is probably the one to beat, but anything could happen.