Jesse Love is off to a great start in his Sophomore NASCAR Xfinity Series season. Following a win in the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway last weekend, the second win of his career, Love snagged the pole position for Saturday’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Love toppled the field of 10 drivers in the final round of qualifying on Friday at the 1.54-mile intermediate/superspeedway hybrid racetrack. The 20-year-old driver turned a lap time of 31.730 seconds (174.724 mph) to nab the pole position.
Starting Lineup: NASCAR Xfinity Series Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at Atlanta
This is the sixth career NASCAR Xfinity Series pole position for Love, and the driver continued his perfect record of starting from the pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway as he’s recorded the pole in all three of his career starts at the 1.54-mile oval.
Love credited the speed in his race cars and the talent of his crew chief for the great run of qualifying efforts at Atlanta.
“Yeah, I drive fast race cars, and that obviously helps,” Love said in his post-qualifying press conference. “We have big power, and my crew chief Danny Stockman is really good at his job as well. Qualifying time, my job is pretty easy, and my job is tough tomorrow night.”
The young racer suffered a heartbreaking loss in this event last year. The California native led 157 of 169 laps in that race but would finish 12th after running out of fuel in the closing laps.
Starting alongside Love on the front row of Saturday’s race will be Love’s Richard Childress Racing teammate, Austin Hill. Hill’s lap time was just 0.063 seconds off the pace of Love’s pole-winning run.
Hill, a native of Winston, GA, swept the races at his home track a season ago and has four total NASCAR Xfinity Series wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway over the course of his career. He’ll look to add another one from the runner-up starting spot on Saturday.
Josh Williams was the feel-good story of the session as the Kaulig Racing driver secured a third-place starting spot in the qualifying session. The starting spot is the best of Williams’ 221-race NASCAR Xfinity Series career, and it tops his previous best of seventh, which he achieved at Dover Motor Speedway in 2023.
The 31-year-old rose to prominence after being parked in this event in 2023 due to tape flying off of his car causing a caution flag period to extend. The call from NASCAR officials frustrated Williams, who protested the call by parking and leaving his car at the start-finish line. Williams would serve a one-race suspension for the defiant moment.
What a full-circle moment it would be if Williams could score his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win at the same track on Saturday.
Defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier will start Saturday’s race from the fourth position, and Sam Mayer, the pilot of the No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford, will roll from the starting grid in the fifth position.
Taylor Gray (rookie), Brandon Jones, Carson Kvapil (rookie), Christian Eckes (rookie), and Connor Zilisch (rookie) rounded out the top-10 qualifiers Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway is set for Saturday, February 22. That event will be televised on The CW with coverage kicking off at 5:00 PM ET.
