Brandon Jones won the pole for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Dover Motor Speedway.
Jones’ lap of 157.398 miles per hour around the one-mile concrete oval was enough to earn his first pole of the season. It came after he ran the fastest lap in the preceding practice session.
Jones last won an Xfinity pole in February 2020 at Auto Club Speedway, 72 starts ago.
NASCAR Xfinity Series at Dover – Starting Lineup
NASCAR Xfinity Series at Dover – Qualifying Speeds
“Awesome to go out and set fast time in practice, set fast time in qualifying,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver told Fox Sports. “That was a big lap, man. That’s a lot more than I expected but based on practice, we’re just carrying so much throttle this weekend here.
“Don’t know if it’s the little bit colder temperatures or a different tire compound or what we brought this weekend, but I know that these guys brought the heat. They’ve been working really hard on getting Dover a lot better.
“This has been a track in the past where it’s kind of been hit or miss for us. We’ve had speed in the past and been a little bit off in the past, but I’m really looking forward to tomorrow after seeing what our speed was like today.”
Starting alongside Jones on the front row will be JR Motorsports’ Sam Mayer, who qualified a career-best second with a lap of 157.048 mph.
Two more JR Motorsports drivers, Talladega winner Noah Gragson (156.399 mph) and Josh Berry (156.365 mph), will start from the second row. Jones’ teammate, Ty Gibbs (156.013 mph), and Riley Herbst (155.750 mph) make up the third row.
Brennan Poole was the lone driver that did not qualify into the 38-car field.
Green flag for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Dover is scheduled for 1:47 p.m. ET. Coverage is on FS1.
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Dover Xfinity qualifying: Brandon Jones on pole for Saturday originally appeared on NBCSports.com
