Sammy Smith Leads JRM Domination Of Vegas Xfinity Drills

Sammy Smith celebrates his NASCAR Xfinity Series pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday. (HHP/Jacy Norgaard photo)

LAS VEGAS – Leading a JR Motorsports top-three sweep of NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Sammy Smith rocketed to the pole for the LiUNA! 300.

Smith toured the 1.5-mile oval in 29.435 seconds (183.455 mph) with the No. 8 Pilot Chevrolet to earn his third career Kennametal Pole Award, worth $2,000 to the Johnston, Iowa, native.

It marks the first Xfinity Series pole for the 20-year-old since the 2023 season finale at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway. He’ll make his 80th start at NASCAR’s second-highest level on Saturday afternoon.

“That (lap) was very high commitment right there,” Smith noted following qualifying. “Hats off to all the Pilot-Flying J guys; they did a great job in getting us to this pole. We’ve really tried to focus on qualifying these last couple of races … not just to help our starting position, but to find speed anywhere we can.

“We were solid in practice; I feel like we just need to work on our long-run pace a bit,” he added. “I think the race will be about keeping up with the racetrack, considering there will be rubber down (from NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying) and it’ll be a bit hotter during the day, so hopefully we can keep ourselves up front and in contention to fight for the win at the end.”

Rookie-of-the-year contenders Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch followed Smith in the JRM onslaught, with Kvapil earning a front-row starting spot in second after a lap of 29.502 seconds (183.038 mph) in the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Clarience Chevrolet.

It’s the best qualifying effort for the second-generation racer in his 14 Xfinity Series appearances thus far.

“Having never been here, I think, played a little bit of a role in not quite being able to get everything out of the car that I wanted to there,” admitted Kvapil. “I wanted to put down a pretty good lap and not overdo it, and the team and I talked about trying to hold it wide open in (turns) one and two … but I just had to lift a bit, even though I don’t think I needed to because it cut so well to the bottom.

“I think there was a little bit more to give, but I’m really excited for the race and think we have a good piece for the long haul.”

Zilisch will roll off third (29.564/182.655) alongside Joe Gibbs Racing rookie Taylor Gray, who was best among the Toyota contingent in fourth (29.592/182.482).

Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer starts fifth (29.634/182.223) as the only Ford driver inside the top 15 in qualifying. He’s flanked by defending series champion Justin Allgaier, who made it four JRM cars among the first three rows of the starting lineup.

Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love, JGR’s William Sawalich, Big Machine Racing’s Nick Sanchez, and Jordan Anderson Racing’s Jeb Burton closed out the top 10 in time trials.

Those starting further back in Saturday’s field include Phoenix winner Aric Almirola (11th), Brandon Jones (15th), Christian Eckes (17th), Harrison Burton (18th), Anthony Alfredo (22nd), Sheldon Creed (23rd), and Austin Green (36th), the son of 1994 series champion David Green.

With 38 drivers on hand for 38 starting spots, no one failed to qualify for race five of the Xfinity Series season.

Broadcast coverage of the LiUNA! 300 is slated for Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.