It didn’t take long for Trevor Bayne to get re-acclimated in a NASCAR Xfinity Series car this season, winning stage one at Auto Club before following it up with a pole position for Saturday’s United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway.
The 2011 Daytona 500 champion posted an incredible time early in Saturday’s single-car qualifying session, posting a time of 27.306 seconds (131.839mph) to grab his eighth pole in the second-tier series.
Noah Gragson – who became the fifth driver to start a NASCAR Xfinity Series season with three straight top-three finishes — will share the front row with Bayne, clocking in a half-tenth slower than the Joe Gibbs Racing entry.
After last week’s shenanigans, it’s only fitting that Ty Gibbs and Ryan Sieg will start alongside each other on the second row, with Brandon Jones, another Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, rounding out the top-five.
Making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in the No. 38 Ford Mustang for RSS Racing, Parker Retzlaff recorded an astounding sixth-place qualifying effort, marking the first time in RSS Racing’s history two of their entries will start in the top-10.
Sam Mayer, Josh Berry, and Sheldon Creed recorded solid top-10 qualifying efforts in seventh, eighth, and ninth-place, while Kyle Weatherman recorded an incredible top-10 start for DGM Racing.
Kaulig Racing’s three-for-three streak with poles in the NASCAR Xfinity Series came to a grinding halt on Saturday, with Daniel Hemric being the highest-qualifying of the organization’s entries in 15th. AJ Allmendinger and Landon Cassill qualified 17th and 22nd, respectively.
Brennan Poole, Loris Hezemans, Stan Mullis, and Jesse Little – qualifying the No. 34 for Jesse Iwuji — all failed to qualify for Saturday’s 200-lap event, although it didn’t come without its fair share of drama.
David Starr – one of four drivers unable to rely on his owner points for a provisional — was sent on-track too early, which was made apparent when Starr’s No. 08 spun exiting turn two, directly impeding the lap of Loris Hezemans.
Both drivers were afforded the opportunity to re-run their qualifying laps, with Starr posting a time fast enough to make the event on speed.
Video: David Starr Sent on Track Early in Qualifying, Spins and Impedes Hezemans Lap
Qualifying Results: NXS United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway
Qualifying Results: 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 200
