Defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer isn’t messing around this season, especially when it comes to time trials, putting up a massive lap on Saturday to earn the pole position for this afternoon’s Call811.com 200 at Phoenix Raceway.
Custer, driving the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, topped the speed charts in an incredible way with a time of 27.380 seconds (131.483mph), boasting an advantage of more than a tenth of a second in single-lap speed.
RELATED: Qualifying Results — NASCAR Xfinity Series at Phoenix
The triumph in qualifying marks the second consecutive pole position for Custer, after winning the pole for last weekend’s event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the 20th of his career in the second-tier series.
Chandler Smith utilized a tiebreaker – based on owner points – to secure his spot on the front row for Saturday’s 200-mile contest, after posting an identical lap time to fellow Toyota Racing Development (TRD) driver Corey Heim, who will start third for Sam Hunt Racing.
Heim, a regular in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, earns not only his best-ever start in the second-tier series but also the best starting spot for Sam Hunt Racing, besting a previous sixth-place qualifying result by Sage Karam at Road America in 2023.
Riley Herbst, a teammate to Cole Custer, secured a fourth-place starting spot for the event, while Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five in his JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. Sheldon Creed will start in sixth, with Jesse Love, Aric Almirola, John Hunter Nemechek – the driver fastest in practice, and AJ Allmendinger rounding out the top-10.
Notable drivers to qualify outside the top-10 for Saturday’s fourth event of the season include Brandon Jones (11th), Austin Hill (15th), Sammy Smith (16th), Sam Mayer (21st), Shane van Gisbergen (23rd), Josh Williams (27th), and William Byron (28th).
With 39 entries on the premises in Avondale, Arizona, CJ McLaughlin – driving the No. 38 Viking Motorsports Ford Mustang for RSS Racing — was the sole driver failing to qualify for the event.
