Love Rockets To Pole For Xfinity Playoff Race At ‘Dega

Jesse Love celebrates his NASCAR Xfinity Series pole Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway. (HHP/Jacy Norgaard photo)

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Top rookie contender Jesse Love made earning his fifth NASCAR Xfinity Series pole of the season look effortless Saturday morning at Talladega Superspeedway.

Love led both rounds of single-car knockout qualifying at the 2.66-mile oval and outdistanced his Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Hill by more than a tenth of a second in the final round.

The 19-year-old from Menlo Park, Calif., turned a lap of 52.578 seconds (182.129 mph) for his fourth pole on a drafting-style racetrack. He’s topped qualifying at least once at all three superspeedways – Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway, Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, and Talladega – this year.

“These [superspeedway] poles are something that RCR takes a lot of pride in as a company, and it’s such a testament to the work that (crew chief) Danny Stockman and the crew put in at the shop to get ready for these races,” noted Love. “This was the first step, but it’s a whole different animal when you put 37 other cars out there for the race and have us all running right on top of one another in the draft.

“I joked about [winning the pole] just now, because I told Austin if he’s not first, he’s last, but at the same time there’s a long race ahead of us and I’m looking forward to working with him and trying to control the race as best we can as a team,” Love added. “There are going to be a lot of people that probably don’t want to work with us because of how fast our cars are, but I feel like we can kind of control our own destiny and stay out front to earn stage points and build a cushion [in the playoff standings].”

Hill made it a front-row sweep for RCR for the fourth time this season, but could only shake his head and smile when he saw the sheer speed of his young teammate’s pole-winning lap.

“Obviously we’re on the front row with Jesse, and I didn’t care who got the pole as long as we were both on the front row, but he just put down a killer lap there,” said Hill, whose streak of three straight Talladega Xfinity poles was snapped. “Solid start to the day. Now we just have to go execute, work with Jesse as best we can, and when the checkered flag flies, hopefully we can be one spot better than we are right now.”

Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota teammates Chandler Smith and Sheldon Creed line up together in row two after qualifying third and fourth, with the Kaulig Racing Chevrolet of defending race winner A.J. Allmendinger starting fifth.

Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst, Shane van Gisbergen, Kansas winner Aric Almirola, and defending series champion Cole Custer filled out the 10 drivers that made it through both rounds of qualifying.

Though Almirola qualified ninth, he’ll have to drop to the rear of the field and serve a pass-through penalty after the green flag due to a windshield infraction discovered during pre-qualifying inspection.

After leading the first half of the first qualifying round, Taylor Gray ended up as the first driver that failed to make the pole shootout.

He’ll start 11th in the No. 19 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing after a lap of 53.200 seconds (180 mph), missing the transfer by .044 seconds.

Other notables starting deeper in the lineup include playoff drivers Sam Mayer (12th) and Justin Allgaier (14th), two-time Talladega winner Jeb Burton (16th), rookie Carson Kvapil (18th), Brandon Jones (20th), and journeyman owner-driver Jordan Anderson (26th).

Sammy Smith starts lowest among the 12 playoff drivers after a “very disappointing” 27th-place qualifying effort.

Mechanical issues prevented Alpha Prime Racing co-owner Caesar Bacarella from completing his time trial attempt, meaning he’ll start last in the 38-car field.

With exactly 38 cars on the property, all drivers qualified for Saturday afternoon’s 94-lap, 250-mile race.

Broadcast coverage of the United Rentals 250 from Talladega is slated for 4 p.m. ET, live on The CW, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.