Nic Whetstone Breaks Four-Minute Barrier, Tops 2024 BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400 Qualifying
March 8, 2024
Off Road Racer Staff
Rubik Racing’s Nic Whetstone surprised the Unlimited classes in Friday’s qualifying session for the 2024 BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400 by posting the top time in a 2WD Unlimited Truck, besting more than 60 teams that laid down lap times in front of the fans in Primm. Besides being the only driver to break the four-minute barrier, Whetstone’s 3:57.240 was more than eight seconds clear of Parker 400 Unlimited Race winner Conner McMullen, who qualified second overall and best among the Class 1 cars.
Running alongside the O’Reilly Auto Parts Limited Race, qualifying for Saturday’s BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400 Unlimited Race was split into two groups. The first group, featuring the Unlimited Truck SPEC teams on their own, led off with two of the sport’s heaviest hitters in Troy Grabowski and Kyle Jergensen. Grabowski threw down a 4:16.846 before Jergensen nipped him with a 4:14.185, and nobody had anything for either of them from there. While the top 12 qualifiers in the class were separated by just 15 seconds, the closest any other SPEC truck could get to the top two was Justin “Bean” Smith’s 4:19.800.
When the second group got going, Mario Fuentes Zaragoza threw down a 4:06.603 to show the Class 1s would be competitive, before McMullen beat him by under a second with his 4:05.770. Defending race winner Eric Hardin’s 2WD Unlimited Truck came closest with a 4:06.028, but other top names like Rob MacCachren, BJ Baldwin, and Ryan Arciero couldn’t top the fastest Class 1s and Cole Potts, whose 4WD truck was a favorite to break the four-minute barrier, rolled before Whetstone laid down his top time.
Whetstone’s prize for qualifying first will be the honor of starting Saturday’s Unlimited Race all by himself before the rest of the field launches two-by-two behind him. Live streaming coverage of the Unlimited Race will begin at 10AM at themint400.com/live with opening ceremonies before racers hit the course for four laps of action.
Top qualifiers for the 2024 BFGoodrich Tires Mint 400 were as follows:
Unlimited Truck (2WD)
Top
- #18 Nic Whetstone, 3:57.240
- #79 Eric Hardin, 4:06.028
- #32 Ryan Arciero, 4:07.008
- #11 Rob MacCachren, 4:07.417
- #19 Tim Herbst, 4:09.028
- #140 Conner McMullen, 4:05.770
- #179 Mario Fuentes Zaragoza, 4:06.603
- #129 Madix Bailey, 4:34.574
- #222 Kyle Jergensen, 4:14.185
- #272 Troy Grabowski, 4:16.845
- #284 Justin “Bean” Smith, 4:19.800
- #205 Trey Dylan Gibbs, 4:22.515
- #282 Brent Fox, 4:22.593