It’s already been a pretty memorable Saturday for Cole Custer, winning the pole for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway shortly after announcing his pending return to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025 for Haas Factory Team.
Piloting the No. 00 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, Custer laid down a phenomenal lap in Saturday’s single-vehicle qualifying session, collecting the pole for the second-tier series’ first event on the historic 2.5-mile speedway since 2019.
Custer’s lap, which clocked in at 53.705 seconds (167.582mph), was more than two-tenths of a second faster than the outside polesitter for Saturday’s 250-mile contest, which happens to be his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Riley Herbst.
The pole position marks the 21st of Custer’s tenure in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, tying him for 11th place on the all-time list with Denny Hamlin. It’s also the first time Stewart-Haas Racing has started 1-2 in an Xfinity Series event.
Aric Almirola will start Saturday’s 100-lap event from third-place, making his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start since Darlington in May, due to what was reportedly an internal suspension for a conflict with fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace.
Sam Mayer, a two-time winner in the Xfinity Series this season at Texas and Iowa, will start from fourth place, while Anthony Alfredo rounded out the top five in his Our Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro.
JR Motorsports teammates Brandon Jones and Carson Kvapil were sixth and seventh fastest in qualifying for Saturday’s event, while AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, and Josh Berry rounded out the top-10.
STARTING LINEUP: 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis
Berry, a full-timer in the NASCAR Cup Series, is in his second start driving for AM Racing, which had spent the first half of the season fielding the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Hailie Deegan, who parted ways with the team after Nashville.
Notables outside the top-10 include Sheldon Creed in 12th, who will have to drop to the rear of the field to start the race due to his Joe Gibbs Racing team having to change an engine on his No. 18 Toyota GR Supra.
Chandler Smith (13th), Austin Hill (14th), Jesse Love (15th), Sammy Smith (21st), and Ryan Sieg (27th) are among some of the other notables starting outside of the top-10 for Saturday’s return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Parker Kligerman, driving for Big Machine Racing in the No. 48 Chevrolet, will start from 38th, after not posting a qualifying lap. Kligerman was on his way to posting a time when the car got tight and pancaked the outside wall, forcing the driver to abort his lap.
The Pennzoil 250 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway will take place on Saturday at 3:30 pm ET, with broadcast coverage on USA Network.
