Wow, it's hard to call a run in qualifying, a session that only contains one lap on track for each car, dominant. But Jesse Love had a dominant qualifying effort on Saturday at Phoenix Raceway. The defending series champion beat the rest of the field by nearly a quarter second and easily snagged the 11th pole position of his career.
The lap registered by Love was a 27.336-second (131.694 mph) circuit around the 1-mile oval in Avondale, AZ, which allowed him to top Brandon Jones, the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by a margin of 0.240 seconds.
Love, who secured the championship with a win at Phoenix Raceway last season, heads into Saturday night's Timberland PRO 200 just two points behind championship leader Sheldon Creed. With premier track position to start the race, there's a very real chance that the Richard Childress Racing driver walks out of the race in the desert as the point leader.
However, Creed and the rest of the field will have a say in that on Saturday night.
William Sawalich, in third, was the top non-Chase contender in the qualifying results, as he put in a solid effort behind the wheel of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Creed, driving the final races of his tenure in the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet, will roll from the starting grid in the fourth position on Saturday night.
Taylor Gray, Rajah Caruth, Nick Sanchez, Brent Crews, Sammy Smith, and Austin Hill rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for the event at Phoenix Raceway.
Corey Day, who has won the last two NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series races, which were at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, will start from the 11th position. With his back-to-back wins, Day has clawed to within seven points of Creed, the series point leader.
Justin Allgaier, the pre-Chase favorite to win the championship and current fourth-place guy in the title fight, will start 13th.
Carson Kvapil (16th), Parker Retzlaff (18th), and Sam Mayer (35th) are the other Chase contenders who failed to secure top-10 starting spots for Saturday night's race.
Timberland PRO 200 Starting Lineup
Pos | Car | Driver |
|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Jesse Love (C) |
2 | 20 | Brandon Jones (C) |
3 | 18 | William Sawalich |
4 | 00 | Sheldon Creed (C) |
5 | 54 | Taylor Gray (C) |
6 | 88 | Rajah Caruth (C) |
7 | 87 | Nick Sanchez (i) |
8 | 19 | Brent Crews # |
9 | 8 | Sammy Smith (C) |
10 | 21 | Austin Hill (C) |
11 | 17 | Corey Day (C) |
12 | 39 | Ryan Sieg |
13 | 7 | Justin Allgaier (C) |
14 | 31 | Blaine Perkins |
15 | 96 | Anthony Alfredo |
16 | 1 | Carson Kvapil (C) |
17 | 26 | Dean Thompson |
18 | 99 | Parker Retzlaff (C) |
19 | 51 | Jeremy Clements |
20 | 91 | Leland Honeyman (i) |
21 | 28 | Kyle Sieg |
22 | 27 | Jeb Burton |
23 | 92 | Josh Williams |
24 | 53 | Will Rodgers |
25 | 32 | Andrew Patterson |
26 | 44 | Brennan Poole |
27 | 48 | Patrick Staropoli # |
28 | 02 | Ryan Ellis |
29 | 9 | Jake Finch |
30 | 45 | Lavar Scott # |
31 | 43 | Connor Mosack (i) |
32 | 07 | Josh Bilicki |
33 | 47 | Dawson Cram |
34 | 0 | Garrett Smithley |
35 | 41 | Sam Mayer (C) |
36 | 24 | Harrison Burton |
37 | 42 | Brad Perez |
38 | 55 | Joey Gase |
(C) indicates a Chase contender
# indicates a Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points
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