Connor Mosack Scores First Career Pole At Atlanta

Connor Mosack drove to the pole for Saturday’s FR8 208 at Atlanta. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

HAMPTON, Ga. — Connor Mosack is bouncing back from his disappointing 32nd place finish last Friday at Daytona and follows it up with his first career NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series pole position.

Mosack will lead the field of 32 trucks to green in Saturday’s Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway as he will start his No. 81 Friends Of Jaclyn Chevrolet Silverado for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing alongside Grant Enfinger in the No. 9 Chevrolet Silverado for CR7 Motorsports.

Mosack’s rookie season has been off to a rocky start after having a mechanical failure in the season-opener last Friday at Daytona International Speedway.

The 26-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina, native was the only truck to break into the 31-second mark, in qualifying running a 31.969 with a speed of 173.418 mph.

Current points leader and defending race winner Corey Heim struggled to advance into the second round of qualifying Friday afternoon and will start 19th in the No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra for TRICON Garage.

Defending winner of the Atlanta Truck Series race, and two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch begins his part-time campaign in the series in 2025 and is aiming for back-to-back wins in his No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports, starting from the ninth position.

The other three McAnally-Hilgemann teammates to Mosack are starting inside the top 10 for Saturday’s race, this includes Daniel Hemric (N0.19) rolling off third, Jack Wood (N0.91) starting in the fifth spot, and Tyler Ankrum (N0.18) topping things off for the camp in the seventh spot.

Rajah Caruth looks on during FR8 208 qualifying at Atlanta. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

The rest of the top 10 starters are Rajah Caruth (N0. 71) in fourth, Jake Garcia (No. 13) in sixth, Stewart Friesen (No.52) in eighth, and last week’s Daytona pole sitter, Ben Rhodes (No.99) rolling off in tenth.

“Yes, it sounds pretty good,” said Mosack enthusiastically in a press conference following qualifying. “I feel really good about the Friends Of Jaclyn (Chevrolet) Silverado that we brought, and MHR (McAnally-Hilgemann Racing) brought four fast trucks, and I feel that we got a solid team behind us, and hopefully we can work together tomorrow and keep them upfront.”

Mosack was also asked about how he’s felt about fitting into the MHR organization with limited amounts of starts in the Craftsman Truck Series and how he feels so far about that early in the season.

“Yea, Bill’s (McAnally) has built a culture at our team, I feel like that all the teams I’ve driven for, I feel like all four of us (Connor Mosack, Tyler Ankrum, Daniel Hemric, Jack Wood) work together really well, and everyone seems to help each other, more than I’ve seen in the past,” he said. “So I think that its a key to success they’ve had in the past and will hopefully be continued to have all year.”

The FR8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway will air live on FS1 at 1:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, Feb. 22.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Fr8 208 Qualifying Results