AJ Allmendinger scored the pole for his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race of 2023, sporting the fastest time in qualifying at Circuit of the Americas.
Allmendinger set the quickest lap at a speed of 92.173 mph in his No. 10 for Kaulig Racing.
It’s Allmendinger’s first Xfinity appearance of the season after running full time in the series the past few years. He moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series for Kaulig in 2023 but is running a part-time schedule in the No. 10.
Series regular Sammy Smith clocked the second-fastest time at 91.827 mph.
Ty Gibbs, also running his first Xfinity race of the year and moving down from Cup, qualified third, followed by Sheldon Creed and Parker Kligerman.
John Hunter Nemechek, Riley Herbst, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer and William Byron rounded out the top 10.
Byron’s time in the final round of qualifying was disallowed due to NASCAR deeming he had short-cutted the esses. His original time had been quick enough for fastest at the time. Custer also had an issue in the round.
Carson Hocevar will make his series debut in the No. 07, having qualified his way into the field. Hocevar will also drive in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race earlier in the day.
Garrett Smithley, Parker Chase, Cameron Lawrence and Baltazar Leguizamon failed to qualify. The race would have been Lawrence and Leguizamon’s series debuts. Chase had issues in practice that kept him from qualifying.
The Pit Boss 250 is scheduled for Saturday, March 25, at 5 p.m. ET, with TV coverage from FOX Sports 1.
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