Justin Haley set the fastest speed of 67.099 mph in qualifying Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and will start on the pole in heat one before the Busch Light Clash on Sunday.
Haley’s No. 31 Chevrolet of Kaulig Racing was quick early in the session and held the top spot over his NASCAR Cup Series competitors.
Kyle Busch was second fastest, going 66.406 mph, and will start first in heat race two. Christopher Bell begins heat race three on the pole, while William Byron begins first in heat four.
Aric Almirola was fifth fastest and starts second behind Haley in heat one. Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin and AJ Allmendinger will start second in heats two through four, respectively. Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson, ninth and 10th quickest, start third in heats one and two, respectively.
Ryan Blaney’s time was disallowed after he spun in qualifying, turned around and tried to reset to complete his qualifying lap. NASCAR updated the rule for this, and does not allow a driver to reset.
Multiple drivers also had issues during practice, including last year’s winner and 2022 Cup champion Joey Logano with a clutch issue. His team repaired it and he was able to return to practice later in the session.
A bigger issue happened to Ty Gibbs: his No. 54 Toyota caught fire while in practice. The team attempted to repair it before qualifying, but also made unapproved adjustments, so he wasn’t allowed to qualify.
One other notable incident occurred between Chase Briscoe and Allmendinger. Briscoe went inside of Allmendinger in a corner and ended up shoving him in the side after running over the blue area. In turn, the No. 16 bumped the No. 14 several times until Briscoe hit the outside wall with his right-front fender.
The fastest qualifier earns the pole for the first heat race, while the second, third and fourth fastest in qualifying take the poles in their respective heat races. Fifth through eighth quickest take the second spot in each heat race, and so on.
The top five drivers in each heat move on to the main event. Whoever wins the heat races start first-fourth in the main event, and so on through 20th. The last five drivers will compete in one of two last chance qualifiers.
The two last chance qualifying winners take 21st and 22nd. Second place takes 23rd and 24th while the two third-place finishers grab 25th and 26th. The last spot, 27th, is reserved for the driver who had the highest finish in points in…
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