It’s been a pretty darn good week for AJ Allmendinger. First, the announcement Wednesday that he’ll move to the NASCAR Cup Series full-time in 2023 for Kaulig Racing, and now, capturing the pole for Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 at Charlotte’s ROVAL.
The 40-year-old veteran of NASCAR’s top-three series, who is coming off of a triumphant victory at Talladega Superspeedway, put down a blistering lap of 81.694 seconds (102.235mph) to secure the pole for the final race in the ‘Round of 12’.
Allmendinger’s speed has been far and away the best in the field, after leading Saturday’s 20-minute practice session, and posting the quickest overall lap in the first round of qualifying (81.612s / 102.338mph).
In the second and final round of Saturday’s qualifying session, the Los Gatos, California-native put down a near carbon copy of his lap in the first round, capturing the pole by nearly a tenth of a second over Ty Gibbs.
Daniel Hemric, Allmendinger’s teammate at Kaulig Racing, posted the third-fastest lap in the second round of qualifying and will start in the second row with Sheldon Creed starting alongside in fourth. Justin Allgaier completed the top five.
Sam Mayer, Landon Cassill, and Austin Hill secured positions six through eight for Sunday’s 250-mile contest, with Sage Karam, driving the No. 02 for Our Motorsports, earning a career-best ninth-place starting spot.
Jeremy Clements – entering Saturday’s elimination event in a must-win situation – completed the top-10, after not taking a lap in the second round of time trials.
Riley Herbst (11th), Josh Berry (14th), Brandon Jones (15th), and Noah Gragson (37th) all failed to advance to the second round of qualifying and will have to fight for points throughout the event.
Gragson, who didn’t post a lap throughout the qualifying session, will start the race at the rear of the field, after backing his No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro into the wall in turn two, forcing his JR Motorsports team to unload the backup car.
QUALIFYING RESULTS:
Qualifying Results: 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250
