TRUCKS: Piquet Leads Turner Sweep

Camping World Trucks

TRUCKS: Piquet Leads Turner Sweep

Nelson Piquet Jr. was the best of the best in Happy Hour…

Tom Jensen | Posted August 31, 2012 Hampton, GA

Nelson Piquet Jr. won the pole for the Lucas Oil 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

This just in: The Turner Motorsports Chevrolets will be among the favorites to win tonight’s Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Three Turner Motorsports trucks swept the top spots in Friday’s final Happy Hour practice round for tonight’s race, as Nelson Piquet Jr. was fastest in the session with a lap of 177.869 miles per hour in his No. 30 Turner Motorsports Chevrolet.

Second best was James Buescher, who had a best lap of 176.308 miles per hour in the No. 31 Turner Chevy.

Open-wheel-racing star Kyle Larson, making only his second appearance in the Truck Series, ran 175.927 mph in a third Turner entry sponsored by Chip Ganassi. That was good for third overall.

Completing the top five were Tim George and Joey Coulter.

SPEED will televise qualifying at 4:30 p.m. ET. SPEED’s race coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET with NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Setup followed by the race at 8 p.m.

With 13 of 22 races in the books for the 2012 Truck Series season, Timothy Peters leads Buescher by 17 points and Ty Dillon by 25. Justin Lofton and Parker Kligerman are both 31 points back.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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