Brandon Jones desperately needs a turnaround in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season, sitting 13th-place in point standings leaving Talladega Superspeedway. The Atlanta, Georgia native is hoping that comes this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway, after posting the fastest lap in qualifying on Friday.
It’s the second pole position of the season for the driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro, who was credited with a pole earlier in the year at Martinsville Speedway despite having to drop to the rear of the field on the pace laps when his team changed a brake rotor.
For Jones, a 27-year-old veteran of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, it’s the 10th time he’s topped the speed charts in qualifying, dating back to his first pole at Daytona International Speedway in 2017. The JR Motorsports driver has one prior pole at the one-mile concrete oval, coming in 2022, where he finished seventh.
Going out pretty early in the qualifying order, Jones posted a quick time of 22.950 seconds (156.863mph) to score the pole position, holding the top spot by 0.012 seconds over outside polesitter Riley Herbst, driving the No. 98 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Justin Allgaier, who looked to become the all-time leader in top-10 finishes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, will start Saturday’s 200-lap event in third place, while former teammates Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed, now driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, completed the top five.
Kyle Weatherman put together a career-best starting position for Saturday’s race at Dover Motor Speedway, putting his DriveSmartWarranty.com Chevrolet Camaro sixth on the speed charts, the best start on an oval for DGM Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Chandler Smith was seventh, while last weekend’s winner from Talladega, Jesse Love, put together an eighth-place qualifying result. Taylor Gray and AJ Allmendinger completed the top-10.
Other notables in the qualifying results include defending series champion Cole Custer, who put his No. 00 in 11th on the speed charts. Ryan Truex, the most recent winner at Dover, will start 12th. Sammy Smith (13th), Ryan Sieg (14th), Sam Mayer (20th), Carson Kvapil (26th), Shane Van Gisbergen (31st), and Josh Williams (38th) were other notables outside the top-10.
Saturday’s Bet Rivers 200 will take place at 1:30 PM ET, on FOX Sports 1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Starting Lineup: NASCAR Xfinity Series Bet Rivers 200 at Dover
