There are moments in a young driver’s career that feel bigger than the stopwatch. Lanie Buice stood in that space Friday at Pocono Raceway, climbing from her car with the kind of stunned, breathless smile that only comes when a racer realizes they’ve just crossed a threshold they’d been chasing for years. Her lap, a crisp, committed 166.59 mph around the Tricky Triangle, wasn’t just fast. It was the fastest of them all, good enough to earn her the first pole of her ARCA Menards Series career and the right to lead the field to green later this afternoon.
For Buice, this wasn’t a fluke lap or a lucky cloud cover. It was a clean execution of everything she and her team had been building toward. Pocono rewards drivers who trust their car and trust themselves. She did both. The lap carried a steadiness that suggested she wasn’t driving above her limit. She was driving at it. And she beat a driver who has been nearly untouchable.
Gio Ruggiero, fresh off a commanding win at Michigan and riding one of the hottest stretches in the series, will start second. He came close to knocking Buice off the top spot, but close wasn’t enough. For the first time in weeks, someone else set the pace, and the garage took notice. Ruggiero will still be a threat when the green flag waves, but the tone of the weekend shifted the moment Buice’s number rose to the top of the pylon.
Behind them, Gavan Boschele and Daniel Dye will share row two. Both drivers put down strong laps, but neither had the extra tenth needed to challenge the front row. Carson Brown will roll off fifth, paired with Thomas Annunziata on row three. Isabella Robusto, Jake Bollman, Jade Avedisian, and Isaac Kitzmiller complete the top ten. The story, though, begins at the front. When Buice climbed from her car, there was no bravado.
No chest‑puffing. Just a quiet, stunned joy. Drivers remember their first pole because it marks the moment the sport stops being hypothetical. It becomes real. It becomes earned. Her team knew it, too. There was a different kind of energy around the car, not loud, but proud. They’ve been grinding through the early part of the season, showing flashes but not yet putting together the kind of headline moment that forces the rest of the field to recalibrate. This was that moment.
Pocono is a track that exposes hesitation. It punishes indecision. It rewards drivers who can carry speed through three corners that share nothing in common. Buice didn’t blink. She trusted the car through Turn 1, kept it planted through the Tunnel Turn, and let it breathe just enough through Turn 3 to launch down the frontstretch with full commitment. That’s how you earn a pole at Pocono. You don’t luck into it. You take it.
Ruggiero starts the second set up a compelling dynamic. He’s been the benchmark for weeks, and he’ll be aggressive early. Boschele and Dye have both shown speed in traffic, and Brown continues to build consistency. Annunziata, Robusto, Bollman, Avedisian, and Kitzmiller round out a top ten that has enough parity to make the opening laps unpredictable.
A handful of drivers will start deeper in the field after skipping qualifying, including Ryan Vargas, Bobby Earnhardt, Nick White, and Brad Smith. They’ll have work to do, but Pocono’s long straightaways and strategic pit windows can flip a race on its head. All 24 entrants will take the green. For Buice, this pole is more than a starting position. It’s a validation. A marker. A sign that her progression is real and measurable. Drivers don’t forget their first pole because it’s the moment the sport acknowledges them. It’s the moment the garage looks up and says, “She’s here.”
It also changes how she races. Starting up front gives her clean air, control of the pace, and the chance to dictate the early rhythm of the Sunset Hills Shooting Range 150. It gives her team confidence in their setup. It gives her the chance to learn what it feels like to lead a field into Turn 1 at one of the most demanding tracks on the schedule. And it sends a message to the rest of the series. Ruggiero has been the story for weeks, but Buice just wrote a new headline.
The Sunset Hills Shooting Range 150 is set for a green flag shortly before 3 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Pocono races rarely unfold cleanly. Strategy matters. Track position matters. Restarts matter even more. The front row of Buice and Ruggiero sets up a compelling contrast between the rising newcomer and the driver in full stride.
If Buice can convert this pole into early control, she’ll gain something even more valuable than a qualifying trophy. She’ll gain experience racing from the front, managing pressure, and defending clean air at a track that demands precision. No matter how the afternoon unfolds, this day already belongs to her. A first pole is a career milestone. A first pole at Pocono carries even more weight. And for Buice, it feels like the beginning of something bigger.
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