After a second-place run in Friday’s NASCAR Truck Series event at Bristol, Kyle Larson won’t be making history with a weekend sweep at the half-mile short track, but nothing is preventing the NASCAR Cup Series champion from collecting some more trophies.
The Elk Grove, California-native will lead the field to green in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway, collecting his eighth pole in the second-tier series after a blistering lap in qualifying.
Larson’s quick time of 15.194 seconds (126.287mph) puts the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet on the pole for the sixth time since returning to competition in 2022, and the 42nd time overall in the second-tier series.
“It was smooth, the first lap, so it’s either going to be good or not good,” Larson said about his qualifying lap. “That’s why I got loose my second lap, the first lap felt so smooth so I thought I must be slow, so I pushed a little bit more and he said that you had the pole in the back so I just kind of bailed there.”
Rookie of the Year contenders Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil placed second and third in Saturday’s qualifying session, with another JR Motorsports teammate of Justin Allgaier, sitting in fourth place.
Ryan Sieg completed the top-five runners on the qualifying leaderboard at Bristol.
Sam Mayer posted the sixth-fastest time in Saturday’s single-vehicle session, while Nick Sanchez, who was quickest in overall practice earlier on Saturday morning, managed to earn a seventh-place starting spot.
Sammy Smith will roll from eighth, while Alpha Prime Racing’s Parker Retzlaff and AM Racing’s Harrison Burton completed the top-10.
STARTING LINEUP: NASCAR Xfinity Series SciAps 300 at Bristol
Jesse Love, set to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut this weekend for Richard Childress Racing, will roll from 13th after a major slip in qualifying cost the driver of the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet a shot at the pole position.
Other notables include Taylor Gray (11th), Brandon Jones (14th), William Sawalich (15th), Austin Hill (18th), Sheldon Creed (21st), Christian Eckes (22nd), and Justin Bonsignore (27th).
Both Mason Maggio (No. 53 Joey Gase Motorsports) and Tyler Tomassi (No. 66 MBM Motorsports) failed to post a lap during the qualifying session due to issues in practice, where both drivers had some kind of mechanical issue and hit the wall.
With 39 drivers entered in Saturday’s 300-lap contest from Bristol, Tomassi, who drives for the part-time MBM Motorsports, was sent packing prior to the green flag dropping for the SciAps 300.
After being on the preliminary entry list with Dawson Cram listed as the driver, Mike Harmon Racing withdrew the No. 74 Chevrolet in the middle of the week, as the team prepares for next weekend’s event at Rockingham Speedway.
The Sci Aps 300 will take place on Saturday, April 12 at 4:30 PM ET on The CW, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
