Jeffrey Earnhardt – driving the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet that his grandfather, Dale Earnhardt, made famous — will start from the pole for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Talladega Superspeedway.
Earnhardt’s lap of 52.454 seconds (182.560mph) in the second round of single-car qualifying was quick enough to secure the pole position for Saturday’s event, over Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Hill.
As a result, the 32-year-old has scored his first career pole position in NASCAR’s top-three series, while also bringing crew chief Larry McReynolds his first pole position since 2000 (Mike Skinner, California).
The potential for a top-seven lockout for Chevrolet was blocked by Joe Gibbs Racing and Ty Gibbs, who posted a time good enough for third in the second round of qualifying. Sheldon Creed was fourth, with Daniel Hemric in fifth.
Landon Cassill, Ryan Vargas, Kaz Grala, Drew Dollar, and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top-10 starters, as the drivers who advanced to the second round of qualifying.
Natalie Decker (No. 13), CJ McLaughlin (No. 28), and Jesse Iwuji (No. 34) were the three cars that failed to qualify for Saturday’s 300-mile event.
