Chandler Smith was the final car to go on track in Friday afternoon’s practice session for Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota GR Supra turned a lap time of 15.810 seconds (121.366 mph) to top the field in the session.
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This pole marks the fifth of Smith’s NASCAR Xfinity Series career. Now, he’ll set his sights on his fourth-career NASCAR Xfinity Series race win.
Cole Custer, who looked to be heading to the pole, until he was bumped by Smith at the very end of the session, held on to record the second-fastest time of the session with a 15.925-second lap around the 0.533-mile short track.
While he was oh, so close, there was no cigar for Custer in qualifying. However, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver hopes to be celebrating in victory lane on Friday night.
“Man, we were just a little bit too tight,” Custer explained. “So, I knew there was probably a chance that somebody could run a better lap. But I feel like we have a really good car for the race. We just have to be there for the end of this thing, and I think we have a shot at it.”
Anthony Alfredo continues to impress in the No. 5 Our Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro as he’ll start Friday night’s race from the third position.
Justin Allgaier slotted in fourth in the session, while AJ Allmendinger was fifth.
Jeffrey Earnhardt, Jeremy Clements, Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman, and Jesse Love rounded out the top 10 qualifiers for Friday night’s event at The World’s Fastest Half-Mile.
Ryan Sieg, who is the first driver below the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff cutline heading into the final race of the regular season, will start the race from the 12th position. Sieg will have to overcome a 43-point deficit to Sammy Smith or win Friday’s race in order to advance to the Playoffs.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is making his lone NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season, will roll from the starting grid in the 13th position. Earlier in the day, Earnhardt revealed in a press conference that he doesn’t plan to race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025.
With 39 cars on the entry list, and only 38 cars being permitted to start races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, that means that one car unfortunately didn’t make the cut for the field of Friday’s race. The lone driver and team going home are Dawson Cram, and the No. 74 Mike Harmon Racing team.
