Chicagoland Friday qualifying summary

Wallace Captures Pork Pole Award at Chicagoland Speedway

ARCA RE/MAX rookie driver Steve Wallace captured the Pork Pole Award Friday afternoon at Chicagoland Speedway for Saturday's SK Hand Tool 200 with a qualifying speed of 177.113 mph. This was Wallace's third career Pork Pole Award this year, tying him with rookie Brad Coleman with the most in 2006.

Earlier in the afternoon, Wallace (who is the 19-year-old son of NASCAR Nextel Cup Series veteran Rusty Wallace) posted the quickest time during a practice session at the 1.5-mile oval in preparation for the SK Hand Tool 200. His 30.919-second lap (174.650 mph) was good enough for first on the speed charts.

"I've learned in the past that being the fastest in practice and qualifying does not mean anything at all," said Wallace. "I hope the Hantz Group-Nu South Lemonade Dodge will be good tomorrow...it was handling fairly decent in practice today. Actually, I thought Scott Lagasse was really good here, he was really good at Kansas too. Hopefully we will be number one when the day is over tomorrow."

Lagasse, driver of the No. 4 Dodge Motorsports Dodge, will start next to Wallace in the second starting position after posting a qualifying speed of 176.968 mph, while Frank Kimmel (who currently ranks first in points with 4,235) secured the third starting position (174.825 mph).

"I'm very excited with second," said Lagasse. "We didn't really work on qualifying setup. Got a little free during that lap and had to let off the gas a little bit. I'm really comfortable with the race setup and tomorrow should be a great day for the No. 4 Dodge Motorsports Dodge."

In five races this season, Wallace has scored three top-fives, including one victory at Kentucky Speedway on May 13.

The SK Hand Tool ARCA RE/MAX Series races begins at 1 p.m. at Chicagoland Speedway tomorrow, Sept. 9.

-credit: www.chicagolandspeedway.com