After two less-than-ideal weekends to start the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, Sam Mayer comes to Charlotte Motor Speedway’s ROVAL in desperate need of a good result – and likely, a victory.
Mayer, who has top-two results in the last three Xfinity Series road course events, is well on his way to putting forward that much-needed result, scoring the pole for Saturday’s Drive for The Cure 250 at Charlotte’s ROVAL.
Driving the No. 1 Chevrolet, Mayer barely eclipsed the time of Justin Allgaier, his teammate at JR Motorsports, to score the pole position, posting a lap of 82.045 seconds (101.798mph).
Allgaier, who locked into the ‘Round of 8′ with a victory at Bristol Motor Speedway, will start alongside Mayer, with a lap less than four-hundredths shy of his pole-winning teammate. Josh Berry will start in third place, marking a top-three sweep for JR Motorsports in qualifying.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff drivers Daniel Hemric and Sheldon Creed will start Saturday’s 250-mile contest from fourth and fifth place, as they look to advance to the next round.
Parker Kligerman, who enters Saturday’s event just one point below the cutline, will start from sixth place, while Cole Custer, Austin Hill, Riley Herbst, and Alex Labbe completed the top-10.
Among notables failing to qualify inside the top-10 includes Chandler Smith, who placed his No. 16 Chevrolet 17th in qualifying on Saturday. Jeb Burton in 19th, and Sammy Smith in 22nd were the only other playoff-eligible drivers not qualifying in the top-10.
After winning the series’ last event at Texas, John Hunter Nemechek found himself in trouble during practice on Saturday, which forced the No. 20 Toyota Supra behind the wall, thus barring them from qualifying.
With 42 drivers entered for Saturday’s annual event at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s ROVAL, four drivers had to go home in what was a competitive qualifying session in the series.
Andy Lally, Boris Said, Preston Pardus, and Devin Jones all failed to qualify for Saturday’s event. Said, driving the No. 17 for Hendrick Motorsports, had issues with the rear gear during qualifying, and appeared to be dropping fluid all over the racetrack, hindering his time.
Qualifying Results – Drive for The Cure 250 at Charlotte’s ROVAL
Qualifying Results: 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 at Charlotte ROVAL
