Custer Lands Indianapolis Xfinity Pole, Leads SHR Sweep

Cole Custer in action Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (David Rosenblum/NKP photo)

INDIANAPOLIS – NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying saved the best for last Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, courtesy of defending series champion Cole Custer.

Less than two hours after announcing he’ll move back to the NASCAR Cup Series next year with Haas Factory Team, Custer laid down a blistering lap of 53.705 seconds (167.582 mph) around the historic 2.5-mile oval.

That was more than two tenths of a second faster than his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Riley Herbst, and more than enough to give Custer the 21st pole position of his Xfinity Series career.

“I’m really proud of our team, because this is a really tough place to get right,” said the current point leader, who will start from the top spot for the third time this year.

“There’s a lot that goes into how you attack this race, with it being a kind of a speedway [drafting] race, but kind of a mile-and-a-half race at the same time. All of our guys did a great job doing their homework going into this weekend,” Custer added. “I can’t thank everybody enough at Haas Automation and Ford Performance, as well as Doug Yates for the awesome motor.

“To get the pole by two tenths at a place like this is pretty cool.”

Herbst went out in the final quarter of the qualifying session and seemed like he might be in line to snap a qualifying drought dating back to June of 2022, but ultimately didn’t have enough steam to hold off his teammate.

Still, however, the pair made a bit of history as Stewart-Haas Racing swept the front row for the first time in the team’s eight-year Xfinity Series tenure.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Aric Almirola was the fastest Toyota driver in third, and he’ll be joined by Sam Mayer’s JR Motorsports Chevrolet on the second row of the grid for the Pennzoil 250 at the Brickyard.

Our Motorsports’ Anthony Alfredo put up a surprising lap of 54.024 seconds (166.593 mph) to qualify fifth, his best starting spot since winning his lone Xfinity Series pole at Portland (Ore.) Int’l Raceway in 2022 and just the third top-five start of his 105-race career.

Sixth through 10th were Brandon Jones, standout young gun Carson Kvapil, A.J. Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, and Josh Berry, who landed a top-10 starting spot for the underdog AM Racing team.

Notables starting deeper in the field include Sheldon Creed (12th), Chandler Smith (13th), Austin Hill (14th), rookie Jesse Love (15th), Sammy Smith (21st), Shane van Gisbergen (23rd), and Ryan Sieg (27th).

Multi-time Indianapolis 500 starter Conor Daly qualified a respectable 16th for Sam Hunt Racing.

Parker Kligerman hit the turn-one wall on his timed lap and did not post an official speed. He’ll start last in the 38-car field Saturday afternoon.

Broadcast coverage of the Pennzoil 250 at the Brickyard is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET, live on USA, the IMS Radio Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.