With the performance they’ve put on this season, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that JR Motorsports have unloaded multiple fast entries for Saturday’s New Holland 250 at Michigan International Speedway.
After posting the quickest time in Saturday’s sole 20-minute practice session, Noah Gragson has laid down the quickest lap in single-car qualifying, putting down a flying lap of 37.821 seconds (190.370mph) in his No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet.
The Las Vegas, Nevada-native didn’t capture the pole position by much though, only besting regular-season points leader AJ Allmendinger by six-thousandths of a second to capture his second career pole in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Allmendinger – the series’ winner last time out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – will start alongside Gragson on the front row in Saturday’s 250-mile contest.
Justin Allgaier, Gragson’s JR Motorsports teammate, will start from the inside of the second row, after posting the third-quickest time in Saturday’s single-car qualifying session. Daniel Hemric will start fourth, his sixth top-five start of the season.
Sammy Smith completed the top-five quickest times at Michigan, marking the second top-five starting spot earned for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver in his three career races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Josh Berry and Brandon Jones posted the sixth and seventh-place laps, putting them inside the top-10 with their teammates at JR Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing.
With an eighth-place starting spot, Kyle Weatherman posted his second top-10 starting spot of the season, as well as a career-best for both himself and Jesse Iwuji Motorsports, a first-year program in the Xfinity Series.
Ty Gibbs and Brandon Brown completed the top-10 qualifiers for Saturday’s 250-mile contest at Michigan International Speedway.
Starting in 14th, Dillon Bassett put up an incredible starting position for Bassett Racing, a family-owned organization that had to qualify into the field for Saturday’s event. Similarly, Kyle Sieg placed the No. 28 Ford Mustang in 18th.
Akinori Ogata (No. 13 MBM Motorsports), Brennan Poole (No. 47 Mike Harmon Racing), and Jordan Anderson (No. 32 Jordan Anderson Racing) were the three drivers that failed to qualify for Saturday’s event at Michigan.
Anderson, who was in a position based on practice speeds to make the field, broke loose in turn three, spinning the No. 32 around in turns three and four, ruining his qualifying lap. Michigan marked the first attempt for the second Jordan Anderson Racing entry.
Qualifying Results: 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series New Holland 250
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