Jesse Love Keeps RCR O'Reilly Talladega Qualifying Streak Alive

Heading into Friday afternoon, no team outside of Richard Childress Racing had captured a pole position at Talladega Superspeedway in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series since the start of the 2022 season. That streak remained intact, as Jesse Love captured the eighth consecutive pole position for RCR at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.

Love's pole-winning run came on the strength of a 52.525-second (182.313 mph) lap time in the final round of Friday's qualifying session for Saturday's Ag-Pro 300.

The driver of the No. 2 Whelen Engineering Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was able to top Sam Mayer for the top qualifying spot by 0.042 seconds.

Corey Day, the phenomenal developmental talent for Hendrick Motorsports, continued his solid start to the 2026 season with a third-place qualifying run, and Josh Williams opened up some eyes with a fourth-place effort behind the wheel of the No. 92 DGM Racing Chevrolet.

Along with Mason Maggio, who qualified 10th, DGM Racing secured two top-10 qualifying spots on Friday afternoon. A heck of an effort for the underdog family-owned organization.

Sheldon Creed, Austin Hill, Rajah Caruth, Carson Kvapil, Anthony Alfredo, and Maggio rounded out the top-10 qualifiers at Talladega Superspeedway.

Kvapil heads into this race looking for a little less eventful a race than what he had last week. At Kansas Speedway, Kvapil, who started from the first starting spot, went for a ride on the backstretch after he received contact from William Byron on Lap 2. Kvapil would flip wildly and see his race come to an end before it really ever began.

With only 38 cars on the entry list in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series this weekend, no drivers or teams were forced to pack up their equipment and head home after the qualifying session.

Official Ag-Pro 300 Starting Lineup

1. 2-Jesse Love
2. 41-Sam Mayer
3. 17-Corey Day
4. 92-Josh Williams
5. 00-Sheldon Creed
6. 21-Austin Hill
7. 88-Rajah Caruth
8. 1-Carson Kvapil
9. 96-Anthony Alfredo
10. 91-Mason Maggio
11. 7-Justin Allgaier
12. 39-Ryan Sieg
13. 8-Sammy Smith
14. 48-Patrick Staropoli
15. 51-Jeremy Clements
16. 18-William Sawalich
17. 26-Dean Thompson
18. 19-Brent Crews
19. 99-Parker Retzlaff
20. 42-David Starr
21. 02-Ryan Ellis
22. 20-Brandon Jones
23. 31-Blaine Perkins
24. 27-Jeb Burton
25. 5-JJ Yeley
26. 54-Taylor Gray
27. 38-Patrick Emerling
28. 28-Kyle Sieg
29. 55-Joey Gase
30. 24-Harrison Burton
31. 87-Austin Green
32. 45-Lavar Scott
33. 32-Tyler Ankrum
34. 44-Brennan Poole
35. 07-Josh Bilicki
36. 35-Natalie Decker
37. 0-Garrett Smithley
38. 74-Dawson Cram

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