In 2021, Luke McMillin missed out on the Baja 400 pole by just .051 of a second to Bryce Menzies. Fast forward a year later and he was able to return the favour by over seven seconds.
McMillin topped Wednesday’s qualifying with a time of 6:37.153 ahead of Menzies in the Trophy Truck class. The two also traded blows at the SCORE International 2022 season opener in San Felipe, where Menzies won the pole but finished runner-up to McMillin.
While coming up short, Menzies is the defending 400 winner. He will hope to turn his fortune around after suffering an engine failure in the Baja 500.
“We had a really good run. It was a lot of fun,” said McMillin. “We got going, took out of the hole really good. This truck just has so many things I want to say but I can’t say. I don’t want to tell everyone what I felt too much, but there’s just a couple characteristics about this truck that are just unbelievable.”
In contrast to his younger brother, Dan McMillin suffered a blown tyre during his lap and finished last of the twenty-six Trophy Trucks. Toby Price qualified seventh in Team Australia‘s first race.
Gus Vildósola topped the five Trophy Truck Legends as the lone entry with a time below seven minutes. The same occurred in Trophy Truck Spec with Pierce Herbst leading the way. Herbst’s time was good for sixth overall while Vildósola ranked ninth.
SCORE newcomer Ken Stanick, whose truck is supporting restaurants in his native Canada, qualified twelfth in TT Spec. Cayden MacCachren was twenty-second in the same class in his maiden start as a driver.
Conner McMullen (TT Spec) flipped onto his roof on his run.
The race will take place on Saturday, 17 September.
Qualifying results (top 5 per class)
Trophy Truck
| Position | Number | Driver of Record | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 83 | Luke McMillin | 6:37.153 | Leader |
| 2 | 7 | Bryce Menzies | 6:44.582 | + 7.429 |
| 3 | 89 | Mike Walser | 6:48.543 | + 11.390 |
| 4 | 23 | Dan McMillin | 6:52.491 | + 15.338 |
| 5 | 21 | Tavo Vildósola | 6:53.450 | + 16.297 |
Trophy Truck Legends
| Position | Number | Driver of Record | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 21L | Gus Vildósola | 6:56.750 | Leader |
| 2 | 37L | Rolf Helland | 7:03.372 | + 6.662 |
| 3 | 53L | Wade Porter | 7:44.093 | + 47.343 |
| 4 | 85L | Clay Lawrence | 8:07.200 | + 1:10.450 |
| 5 | 61L | David Payne | 9:06.485 | + 2:09.735 |
Trophy Truck Spec
| Position | Number | Driver of Record | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 264 | Pierce Herbst | 6:54.328 | Leader |
| 2 | 204 | Christopher Polvoorde | 7:00.945 | + 6.617 |
| 3 | 228 | Ryan Hancock | 7:01.371 | + 7.043 |
| 4 | 272 | Dustin Grabowski | 7:11.988 | + 17.660 |
| 5 | 261 | Dan Fresh | 7:12.681 | + 18.353 |