NEWTON, Iowa — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Jeff Curry/Getty Images North America photo —
Daniel Suarez just continues to get better and better, just like his car did on Saturday during NASCAR XFINITY Series pole qualifying.
Suarez, from Monterrey, Mexico, outgunned Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney in the final knockout round by 0.012 seconds in the last half-minute to score his second career Coors Light Pole Award (and second of the season) with a lap of 23.606 seconds (133.441 mph) around the Iowa Speedway.
“The car kept getting better and better,” Suarez said of his No. 18 ARRIS Toyota. “Using the same set of tires for all three rounds, you have to find something different in the last round than you do in the first two rounds in order to be good because they change so much. Everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing is doing a great job building fast race cars and I feel this is a great opportunity to get our team a win tonight.”
Blaney, who topped the second round of qualifying, used a lap of 23.618 seconds (133.373 mph) to seat himself alongside Suarez on the front row for the the U.S. Cellular 250 Presented by New Holland (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, Sirius XM).
Richard Childress Racing’s Brendan Gaughan (23.709/132.861) slotted in third during the final round of qualifying, and is looking for his first win at Iowa after eight prior starts at the 0.875-mile short track.
18-year-old Brandon Jones (23.727/132.760) and Drew Herring (23.761/132.570), who will cede the seat of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota to Erik Jones for tonight’s race, rounded out the fast five.
Due to the driver change, Jones will have to drop to the rear of the field for the start of the 250-lap event. Jones finished 10th in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Pocono Raceway earlier today.
XFINITY Series points leader Chris Buescher qualified sixth ahead of the night’s sentimental favorite, Kenny Wallace, who is competing in his NASCAR driving swan song tonight behind the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing and will start seventh.
“I’m not sad at all,” Wallace said of his emotions heading into his final NASCAR start. “I’m looking at this as celebrating 905 NASCAR starts.”
“I was a kid that grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and I think a lot of us get busy thinking, ‘Are you going to be Jeff Gordon?’ or ‘Are you going to be Kyle Busch?’ I was never one of those guys, but what I was was a good race car driver. I’ve got nine XFINITY wins and some great stats and I’m thrilled to death with what we just accomplished. I qualified seventh and I don’t even hardly race anymore. That shows you just how good this Joe Gibbs Racing team is.”
Darrell Wallace Jr., Regan Smith, Ty Dillon, Brian Scott and defending series champion Chase Elliott rounded out the dozen drivers who advanced to the third and final round of time trials.
Ben Rhodes was the first car to miss transferring to the final round, and will start 13th after posting a best lap of 131.562 mph.
“I didn’t want my crew to change much after the first round, but then the track changed a little bit and got looser as the sun came out,” Rhodes explained. “We have a really good race car, I feel, and I think we’re going to be good to work through traffic later tonight. Hopefully the track will come to us.”
Other notables failing to make the final round of knockout qualifying included Roush Fenway Racing’s Elliott Sadler (15th) — who posted a lap fast enough to transfer in on his final circuit but was seven tenths of a second too late in getting to the line after time expired — and Daytona winner Ryan Reed (21st).
Sadler was frustrated at the call by NASCAR officials to disallow his lap at the end of the second round.
“We feel like we made it,” Sadler said. “There was no flag, no lights were on when we crossed and going by the verbal countdown that’s all the information we have, we were past the line with two seconds left on the clock. They’re showing us different data that the teams don’t have. I don’t know where their line is at; I don’t know what side of the start finish line it’s on. We’re always on the short end of the stick the last couple of years, and we feel like we got that again today.”
“We’ll just have to dig out of the hole they’ve put us in. That’s all we can do.”
Blake Koch had a flat tire at the conclusion of round one and despite transferring into round two, did not take a lap and will start 24th.
Richard Childress Racing took four of the top five spots in the opening round of qualifying, led by Dillon with a top speed of 133.288 mph, but Cale Conley was the first man below the cut line and will start 25th for TriStar Motorsports in tonight’s event.
“We weren’t very good on our first run, so we went out and tried it again and just didn’t have enough,” Custer admitted. “If we’d had our second run speed on our first run I think we might have been alright, but it’s just frustrating to not make it out of the first round. I think we’ll be alright for the race though — it’s Iowa — so we’ll see what happens. I’m just happy to be here.”
Other notables that fell in the first round included Johanna Long (28th), making her XFINITY Series return driving for Obaika Motorsports in the No. 97; Matt Wallace (29th), son of former NASCAR national series regular Mike Wallace; and defending NASCAR Whelen Euro Series champion Anthony Kumpen, making his XFINITY Series debut.
RESULTS: NASCAR XFINITY Series; Coors Light Pole Qualifying; Iowa Speedway; August 1, 2015
- Daniel Suarez
- Ryan Blaney
- Brendan Gaughan
- Brandon Jones
- Drew Herring (subbing for Erik Jones)
- Chris Buescher
- Kenny Wallace
- Darrell Wallace Jr.
- Regan Smith
- Ty Dillon
- Brian Scott
- Chase Elliott
- Ben Rhodes
- Brennan Poole
- Elliott Sadler
- Dakoda Armstrong
- Ryan Sieg
- Ross Chastain
- Michael Self
- J.J. Yeley
- Ryan Reed
- Jeremy Clements
- David Starr
- Blake Koch
- Cale Conley
- Dylan Lupton
- Joey Gase
- Johanna Long
- Matt Wallace
- Morgan Shepherd
- Eric McClure
- Jeff Green
- Jimmy Weller
- Harrison Rhodes
- Anthony Kumpen
- Mike Harmon
- Matt Frahm
- Zachary Bruenger
- Josh Reaume
- John Jackson
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s. He is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
