For the first time in his eight-season tenure in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Brandon Jones has picked up multiple poles in a single season, besting the field in Saturday’s single-car qualifying session from Darlington Raceway.
Jones, a previous winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Darlington, will lead the field to green in his Menards Toyota GR Supra, after posting a time of 29.722 seconds (165.453mph) in Saturday’s single-car qualifying session.
The 25-year-old narrowly edged out Noah Gragson for the top spot in qualifying, beating the JR Motorsports driver by four-hundredths of a second, en-route to his fifth career pole.
Gragson, the defending winner of the Sports Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway, will start alongside Jones on the front row for Saturday’s event.
Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill – teammates for Richard Childress Racing – will share the second row when the event gets underway on Saturday. Entering the race, Creed sits 13th in points, 43 points outside the playoffs.
Ty Gibbs, a teammate to Brandon Jones, completed the top five, with Justin Allgaier, Kyle Larson, Riley Herbst, Landon Cassill, and Daniel Hemric earning starting spots inside the top-10.
Driving for Alpha Prime Racing, Stefan Parsons secured the second top-15 starting spot of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career, placing the No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro in 14th.
Christopher Bell – filling in for Denny Hamlin after the NASCAR Cup Series team owner complained of soreness following a crash at Daytona – will start at the rear of the field, after an engine issue in practice.
Qualifying Results:
Qualifying Results: 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Sports Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200