BRISTOL, Tenn. – Cole Custer raced to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series pole on Saturday morning during qualifying for the Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Custer toured the .533-mile concrete oval in 15.090 seconds (127.157 mph) during the third and final knockout round with his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford. He was the only driver to crack the 127 mph speed bracket.
“It’s amazing to get my first Xfinity Series pole here,” said Custer. “Bristol is a place you always circle on your calendar because it’s a place everyone loved as a kid. So it’s awesome to come here and do what we did this morning.
“We have a really good HAAS Automation Mustang; we just have to stay on top of the VHT and see what it’s gonna do in the race. I’m pumped, man. I think we’re starting the weekend off good and like I said, I know we have a really fast car so we’ll have a shot at the $100,000.”
Custer is one of the four Dash 4 Cash-eligible drivers in Saturday afternoon’s race. The others are Christopher Bell, Ryan Preece and Daniel Hemric. All four qualified in the top seven.
Joining Custer on the front row will be Justin Allgaier in the No. 7 Suave Men Chevrolet. Allgaier turned a lap of 15.119 seconds (126.913 mph) in the final round of qulaiyfing.
Bell and Hemric will start side-by-side in row two, while John Hunter Nemechek qualified fifth after leading the first two knockout rounds.
Brandon Jones, Preece, Shane Lee, Spencer Gallagher, Austin Cindric, Matt Tifft and Ryan Reed completed the top 12 in qualifying and all transferred through each of the three knockout rounds.
Elliott Sadler was the first driver who missed the cut at the end of the second round, starting 13th (15.386/124.711) in the No. 1 Armour Chili Chevrolet.
Other notables starting mid-pack include Ty Majeski (14th), rookie Kaz Grala (17th), Michael Annett (17th), Jeremy Clements (18th) and Chase Briscoe (22nd), who is making his first of five appearances in Stewart-Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste’s No. 98 Ford this weekend.
Ryan Sieg pounded the outside wall exiting turn four after getting out of the groove just over two minutes to the second round. He and teammate Jeff Green were the only two drivers that did not post times in round two and will start 23rd and 24th, respectively, though Sieg will drop to the rear after needing to unload a backup car.
Daytona winner Tyler Reddick had to abort his final lap of the first round and was unable to advance in the No. 9 BurgerFi Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. He’ll start 25th in Saturday afternoon’s race after a best lap of
“We just missed it,” lamented Reddick. “Qualifying has unfortunately been our weak point so far as a team, but we’ll work together and I know (crew chief) Dave Elenz and I will figure things out soon.”
After hitting the wall in the opening seconds of the first round, Morgan Shepherd was unable to lay down a lap fast enough to crack the starting grid and was the lone driver to miss the show.
