Photo – Kyle Magda

Sprint Cup rookie Kyle Larson rocketed to the pole for Saturday’s Pocono ARCA 200 at Pocono Raceway. He laid down a lap of 53.106 seconds (169.472) mph and no other driver could knock him off.

“The qualifying run was good,” Larson said. “We had a good lap there. “

The 21-year-old was fastest in the only ARCA practice this morning. Larson talked about the difference between the ARCA and Sprint Cup cars.

“In the Cup car we down-shift into third (gear) and in the ARCA car we don’t do any shifting.  Just learning lines on the track is all I’m learning right now.”

Saturday’s race will be Larson’s third career ARCA start.

Brennan Poole qualified the No. 15 car second for John Wes Townley, who is racing in the Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway Friday night.  Poole has one win at Pocono along with three poles in ARCA.

Justin Allison, the grandson of former NASCAR driver Donnie Allison, posted the third fastest time, as Mason Mitchell and Austin Wayne Self rounded out the top five.

Four of the top five in qualifying have never won a race in the ARCA Series, including seven of the top-ten.