Will Brown in the #11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro at Portland.
The Kaulig Racing driver was 25th in practice and two seconds off pace-setter Connor Zilisch before a gearbox issue in qualifying cost the #11 Chevrolet Camaro driver valuable time.
Brown and compatriot Jack Perkins were part of the first group of qualifying. Perkins was third in while Brown was 13th in the 19-car field before the second group improved the benchmark.
All told, Perkins was 11th and Brown 27th.
Zilisch took pole position for the 75-lap race, nearly half a second clear of his nearest rival Justin Allgaier.
“I probably wasn’t feeling as comfortable as I hoped, to be honest,” said Brown.
“I just had a little drama. I don’t know if I burred second gear or something happened.
“I had one miss-shift probably on lap two or three and then was just really struggling to get it into second gear.
“That was just hurting all my braking zones and everything like that. I felt like I couldn’t get in a rhythm out there.
“We’ll start off the back. It’s a long race. We’ll slowly see if we can pick a few off. We’ll get it sorted and see what happens.”
How to watch Will Brown, Jack Perkins in NASCAR at Portland
Brown said he struggled to get up to speed in practice, making the transition from the stiff touring car to the soft stock car.
“They’re a lot different to what I’m used to… obviously I drove the Cup car, but compared to the Supercar they move around a lot more.
“They pick up the front, they roll a lot, so that was something to get used to.
“You can’t feel the lock-ups as easy, but I’ve just got to do a better job and hopefully we get this sorted and we’ll be right.”
Zilisch said he needs to stay out of trouble to convert pole position into another win.
The #88 JR Motorsports driver is searching for his eighth Xfinity Series race win of his rookie season.
“Keep it on track, first of all. This track gets really dirty. It’s pretty tough to manage, especially in that last section over there when guys are cutting that chicane and picking dirt up on the track, so that’ll be first,” said Zilisch.
“Then try not to go through the cut-through at Turn 1. I had to do that once in practice, so hopefully I don’t have to do that again in the race.
“I don’t want to get used to it but it sure is fun getting to go to the track every weekend knowing that you’re going to have a shot.”
Coverage of the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Portland International Raceway is live on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports from 9:00am AEST.
Results: NASCAR Xfinity Series Pacific Office Automation 147 Qualifying, Portland International Raceway
Pos
Num
Driver
Sponsor
Lap
Diff
Gap
1
88
Connor Zilisch #
WeatherTech Chevrolet
73.38
2
7
Justin Allgaier
BRANDT Chevrolet
73.78
0.400
0.400
3
21
Austin Hill
Bennett Transportation Chevrolet
73.797
0.417
0.017
4
18
William Sawalich #
Soundgear Toyota
73.873
0.493
0.076
5
41
Sam Mayer
Audibel Ford
73.925
0.545
0.052
6
24
Alon Day
JSSI Toyota
73.945
0.565
0.020
7
48
Nick Sanchez #
Caroline Jones No Tellin Chevrolet
74.128
0.748
0.183
8
8
Sammy Smith
Pilot Chevrolet
74.136
0.756
0.008
9
1
Carson Kvapil #
Bass Pro Shops/Clarience Tech Chevrolet
74.242
0.862
0.106
10
2
Jesse Love
Whelen Chevrolet
74.271
0.891
0.029
11
20
Brandon Jones
Menards/Pelonis Toyota
74.329
0.949
0.058
12
19
Jack Perkins
Shaw and Partners Toyota
74.339
0.959
0.010
13
54
Taylor Gray #
Operation 300 Toyota
74.426
1.046
0.087
14
32
Austin Green
3Dimensional.com Chevrolet
74.432
1.052
0.006
15
16
Christian Eckes #
Action Industries Chevrolet
74.529
1.149
0.097
16
0
Sheldon Creed
Friends of Jaclyn Ford
74.531
1.151
0.002
17
27
Jeb Burton
Opti-Coat Chevrolet
74.672
1.292
0.141
18
25
Harrison Burton
AirBox Ford
74.706
1.326
0.034
19
28
Joey Hand
Ford Performance Ford
74.818
1.438
0.112
20
39
Ryan Sieg
Sci Aps Ford
74.838
1.458
0.020
21
42
Anthony Alfredo
Big Rack Spirits Chevrolet
75.057
1.677
0.219
22
26
Dean Thompson #
OSU/Thompson Pipe Group Toyota
75.084
1.704
0.027
23
31
Blaine Perkins
Opti-Coat Chevrolet
75.233
1.853
0.149
24
99
Matt DiBenedetto
Viking Motorsports Chevrolet
75.319
1.939
0.086
25
51
Jeremy Clements
Alliance Driveway Solutions Chevrolet
75.35
1.970
0.031
26
10
Daniel Dye #
Race to Stop Suicide Chevrolet
75.394
2.014
0.044
27
11
Will Brown
Mobile X Chevrolet
75.428
2.048
0.034
28
44
Brennan Poole
Freedom Pro Chevrolet
75.702
2.322
0.274
29
4
Parker Retzlaff
Ziploc Chevrolet
75.731
2.351
0.029
30
71
Ryan Ellis
Classic Collision Chevrolet
75.751
2.371
0.020
31
14
Garrett Smithley
Knight Fire/Dozer Winch Chevrolet
75.837
2.457
0.086
32
45
Vicente Salas
Prime Bites Mini Muffins Chevrolet
76.049
2.669
0.212
33
91
Josh Williams
OACEUS Chevrolet
76.194
2.814
0.145
34
53
Kyle Sieg
Chevrolet
78.397
5.017
2.203
35
35
Takuma Koga
Macnica Toyota
79.13
5.75
0.733
36
70
Thomas Annunziata
CROW Credit Repair Chevrolet
37
7
Alex Labbe
Lockard Security Chevrolet