Following Friday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying session from Homestead-Miami Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing has made a major statement.
Chandler Smith, driver of the No. 81 QuickTie Toyota GR Supra, posted the fastest time in Friday’s qualifying session from Homestead, earning his sixth career pole in the second-tier series.
Smith posted a time of 33.067 seconds (163.305mph) to capture the pole position over his teammate Sheldon Creed, who clocked in nearly a tenth of a second behind in the runner-up position. Funny enough, Smith said that he didn’t feel like his lap was very good from behind the wheel, but was surprised when his team radioed that it was the top speed in the session.
“I mean honestly, I didn’t think it was that good of a lap,” Smith said after collecting his pole award. “I even came on the radio after and was like, ‘Eh, I don’t know if it was really that great.’ And then my crew chief came on after, joking with me, and made the same noise and said, ‘Yeah, you’re P1.’ So I was like, ‘Oh, cool.’ I’ve had a few of those, even New Hampshire last year, I came over the radio and was like ‘Gosh, that was a horrible lap,’ and got the pole by like a tenth or something like that. I guess, bad-driving race cars or whatever it may be for me in qualifying has good tendencies to get some poles, so we’ll take them.”
Aric Almirola, the sole driver fighting for the Owner’s Championship with the No. 20 Toyota GR Supra, will start in third place behind the front row of Smith and Creed.
Cole Custer and Justin Allgaier, two of the favorites to advance into the final round of the post-season and challenge for the championship at Phoenix Raceway, completed the top five.
AJ Allmendinger, last weekend’s winner from Las Vegas, will start in sixth place. Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst, Sam Mayer, and Sammy Smith completed the top-10.
In his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, driving the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing, William Sawalich qualified in a respectable 12th-place. Sawalich will run for Rookie of The Year honors in 2025, just like Connor Zilisch, who will start from 13th on Saturday.
STARTING LINEUP: 2024 NXS Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300
Jesse Love is the only post-season driver who failed to qualify inside the top-10 and will roll from 14th in Saturday’s Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300.
With only 38 drivers on the entry list for Saturday’s event, every driver that attempted the event will take the green flag, the slowest of which was Armani Williams in the No. 35 for Joey Gase Motorsports.
Matt DiBenedetto, driving the No. 38 Ford Mustang for RSS Racing, failed to post a lap in either practice or qualifying and will start from 38th with no laps on the racetrack.
The Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300 will take place on Saturday, October 26 at 4:00 PM ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).
