Jesse Love Narrowly Collects 5th Straight Talladega Pole Over Finch

Jesse Love has been prolific at qualifying through his NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series career at Talladega Superspeedway, and that trend continued on Saturday. Love took the pole position for The Progress Group 250 at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, but it wasn't a slam-dunk runaway qualifying effort. In fact, Love had to sweat it out a little bit.

Jake Finch, the fastest driver in the opening round of qualifying and the final car to go out on track in round 2, nearly turned an identical lap time to Love's pole-winning lap. Finch slotted in just 0.002 seconds off of Love's lap.

By nearly the narrowest of margins, Love was able to extend his consecutive poles streak at Talladega to five. Superspeedway qualifying results are always a testament to the preparation by teams back at the shop, and Love couldn't be more proud of his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing group.

"I'm pretty confident in our Samsara Chevrolet. I'm really proud of everybody back at ECR engines, and the fab shop back in Welcome, North Carolina," Love said. "We've got a great group of people around us, and having a lot of fun. This 2 car, man, it's such a pleasure to drive."

The pole on Saturday marked the 12th of Love's O'Reilly Auto Parts Series career, now, the defending series champion and current point leader will look to extend his championship lead on Saturday afternoon.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge that it's going to be today," Love explained. "There's a lot of JR Motorsports guys up there that I know want one here. So, I'm ready for it. I'm excited for the challenge, and ready to fight back."

In just his seventh career start, Finch nearly collected his first pole position, driving the No. 9 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. The driver was left kicking himself, as he felt he made some mistakes during his qualifying run.

"No, I didn't think I did good enough job," Finch admitted. "My out lap could have been a little bit better. I messed up my shift lights a little bit. But, gosh, I mean, even messing up and being that close, what a testament to this 9 team. The KOA Chevrolet is pretty quick, I just need to do my job from here on out."

Sam Mayer, who is trying to close back in on the championship fight, will start from the third position in Saturday's race, as he slotted in ahead of fellow championship contenders Carson Kvapil, Austin Hill and Rajah Caruth.

Anthony Alfredo had an excellent qualifying effort, as he will start seventh in the No. 96 Viking Motorsports Chevrolet.

Brent Crews, William Sawalich and Corey Day rounded out the top-10 drivers on the starting grid for the race.

While the record books will show Day credited with a 10th-place starting position, the driver of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will have to drop to the rear of the field prior to the green flag in Saturday's race.

The No. 17 Chevrolet encountered an engine issue after the opening round of qualifying, which will result in the team making an engine change before the race. Day was unable to turn a lap in the second round of qualifying.

With 41 cars on the entry list this weekend, it meant that three drivers would unfortunately fail to lock into Saturday's race. The three drivers who will head home after the qualifying session are Lavar Scott, Carson Ware, and Patrick Emerling.

The Progress Group 250 at Talladega is set for 3:30 PM ET on Saturday, October 24. The race will be televised on The CW, and can be streamed on the ESPN App. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide the radio broadcast of the race.

The Progress Group 250 Starting Lineup

Pos	Car	Driver	Lap time	Speed
1	2	Jesse Love (C)	52.435	182.626
2	9	Jake Finch	52.437	182.619
3	41	Sam Mayer (C)	52.469	182.508
4	1	Carson Kvapil (C)	52.485	182.452
5	21	Austin Hill (C)	52.491	182.431
6	88	Rajah Caruth (C)	52.595	182.071
7	96	Anthony Alfredo	52.618	181.991
8	19	Brent Crews #	52.660	181.846
9	18	William Sawalich	52.704	181.694
10	17	Corey Day (C)	0.000	0.000
11	8	Sammy Smith (C)	52.778	181.439
12	00	Sheldon Creed (C)	52.785	181.415
13	42	Nick Leitz (i)	52.788	181.405
14	7	Justin Allgaier (C)	52.824	181.281
15	51	Jeremy Clements	52.839	181.230
16	20	Brandon Jones (C)	52.854	181.178
17	54	Taylor Gray (C)	52.894	181.041
18	4	Caesar Bacarella	52.903	181.011
19	24	Harrison Burton	52.927	180.928
20	02	Ryan Ellis	52.954	180.836
21	48	Patrick Staropoli #	53.016	180.625
22	92	Josh Williams	53.029	180.580
23	43	Connor Mosack (i)	53.032	180.570
24	91	Mason Maggio	53.045	180.526
25	39	Ryan Sieg	53.083	180.397
26	99	Parker Retzlaff (C)	53.100	180.339
27	26	Dean Thompson	53.101	180.336
28	55	Joey Gase	53.132	180.230
29	28	Kyle Sieg	53.138	180.210
30	53	Will Rodgers	53.217	179.942
31	71	Leland Honeyman (i)	53.302	179.656
32	27	Jeb Burton	53.311	179.625
33	32	Daniel Dye (i)	53.343	179.517
34	44	Brennan Poole	53.365	179.443
35	07	Josh Bilicki	53.488	179.031
36	31	Blaine Perkins	53.506	178.971
37	0	Garrett Smithley	53.947	177.508
38	87	Lee Pulliam	0.000	0.000
DNQ	45	Lavar Scott #	53.317	179.605
DNQ	47	Carson Ware	53.879	177.732
DNQ	38	Patrick Emerling (i)	54.317	176.298

(C) indicates a Chase contender
# indicates a Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points

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