Sam Mayer, a native of Franklin, Wisconsin, will lead the field to the green in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, after pulling a commanding margin in the series’ single-car qualifying session on Friday.
The qualifying session – which could only be described as odd — saw the second-year driver post a time of 30.018 seconds (179.892mph) to capture his first career pole in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, boasting a margin of two-plus-tenths of a second.
Justin Allgaier – Mayer’s teammate at JR Motorsports — will start alongside the No. 1 on Saturday, with Ryan Preece, Josh Berry, and Brandon Jones rounding out the top-five starters.
While the first half of the top-10 looks pretty standard for a 1.5-mile qualifying session in the second-tier series, the second half of the top-10 is where things start getting interesting.
Trevor Bayne, Noah Gragson, and AJ Allmendinger will start the race in the sixth through eights, while MBM Motorsports and Timmy Hill snag a ninth-place starting spot, marking the team’s best start in Xfinity Series competition (for the second straight week).
It must be that @PrimeHydrate sponsorship…
For the second straight weekend, @MBMMotorsports secures the organization's best-ever qualifying result in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, this time a ninth with @TimmyHillRacer.#NASCAR | #SrigleyStats Built By @FiveStarBodies pic.twitter.com/FRCu3SCr7p
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) May 27, 2022
Daniel Hemric rounded out the top-10 for Saturday’s event.
Jeffrey Earnhardt, Kyle Sieg, Ronnie Bassett Jr, Ty Gibbs, and Riley Herbst all failed to take time in the single-car qualifying session, which played a role in which drivers and teams were sent home.
The high volume of teams not making a lap also had a role in some excellent qualifying results, including: Stefan Parsons and Alpha Prime Racing (11th), JJ Yeley and MBM Motorsports (16th), Ryan Vargas and JD Motorsports (17th), Brennan Poole and Mike Harmon Racing (19th), and Kyle Weatherman and Jesse Iwuji Motorsports (21st)
With 42 cars entered for the Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte, Mason Massey (DGM Racing), Ronnie Bassett Jr (Bassett Racing), David Starr (SS Green Light Racing), and Kyle Sieg (RSS Racing) failed to qualify for the event.