Jesse Love, a NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff contender, took the pole position for Saturday’s United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. The driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet turned a fast lap time of 52.605 seconds (182.036 mph), which allowed him to snag his third consecutive pole position at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
Love, the last car to go on track in the final round of qualifying, topped rookie contender William Sawalich by 0.097 seconds for the top starting spot.
Christian Eckes was the third-fastest qualifier in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, and he will be joined in Row 2 by fellow rookie contender Carson Kvapil, who, like Love, is a Playoff contender.
Austin Hill, Jeb Burton, Connor Zilisch (Playoff contender), Justin Allgaier (Playoff contender), Aric Almirola, and Brandon Jones (Playoff contender) rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race.
While it was a relatively strong qualifying session for the eight NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff drivers and the two additional cars in the NASCAR Xfinity Series owner’s championship hunt, there were three Playoff contenders, who will start from the outside of the top-10 on Saturday afternoon.
Sammy Smith was the first Playoff driver on the outside looking in with an 11th-place qualifying run. The Haas Factory Team duo of Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed also qualified sub-top-10 in 13th and 16th.
Taylor Gray, who was eliminated from the Playoffs at the Charlotte Roval, had his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota lose power during his qualifying run. He took his car to the garage, and was unable to record a lap time. As a result, the rookie contender will start from the final starting spot in the 38-car field.
Official starting lineup for the NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway (Race 31 of 33):
Pos
Car
Driver
Lap time
Speed
1
2*
Jesse Love (P)
52.605
182.036
2
18
William Sawalich #
52.709
181.701
3
16
Christian Eckes #
52.709
181.677
4
1
Carson Kvapil # (P)
52.765
181.484
5
21*
Austin Hill
52.786
181.412
6
27
Jeb Burton
52.799
181.367
7
88*
Connor Zilisch # (P)
52.814
181.316
8
7*
Justin Allgaier (P)
52.838
181.233
9
19*
Aric Almirola
52.839
181.230
10
20*
Brandon Jones (P)
52.866
181.137
11
8
Sammy Smith (P)
53.171
180.098
12
11
Brenden Queen
53.189
180.037
13
41*
Sam Mayer (P)
53.197
180.010
14
31
Blaine Perkins
53.236
179.878
15
10
Daniel Dye #
53.253
179.821
16
00*
Sheldon Creed (P)
53.343
179.517
17
26
Dean Thompson #
53.345
179.511
18
99
Connor Mosack (i)
53.350
179.494
19
91
Mason Maggio
53.350
179.494
20
48
Nick Sanchez #
53.354
179.480
21
51
Jeremy Clements
53.418
179.265
22
71
Ryan Ellis
53.440
179.192
23
39
Ryan Sieg
53.462
179.118
24
4
Parker Retzlaff
53.483
179.048
25
5
Caesar Bacarella
53.483
179.048
26
32
Jordan Anderson
53.491
179.021
27
42
Anthony Alfredo
53.506
178.971
28
07
Nick Leitz
53.507
178.967
29
70
Leland Honeyman
53.515
178.940
30
25
Harrison Burton
53.518
178.930
31
45
Josh Williams
53.583
178.713
32
35
David Starr
53.587
178.700
33
14
Garrett Smithley
53.645
178.507
34
44
Brennan Poole
53.819
177.930
35
28
Kyle Sieg
54.151
176.839
36
53
Joey Gase
54.177
176.754
37
74
Dawson Cram
55.387
172.893
38
54
Taylor Gray #
0.000
0.000
(P) indicates NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Driver
* indicates NASCAR Xfinity Series Owner Playoff Car
# indicates Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points
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