Allgaier Secures Pole for NXS Round of 8 Opener at Vegas; Full Lineup

There’s just no beating the dominance of JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, right now.
Justin Allgaier, defending champion of the second-tier series and driver of the No. 7 BRANDT Fresh Agriculture Chevrolet, will lead the field to green in Saturday’s Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, after clicking off an incredible lap in the late stages of qualifying.
The Riverton, Illinois-native collected his 12th career pole in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday, and his second of the 2025 campaign. The qualifying triumph marks Allgaier’s first pole on a mile-and-a-half since the 2023 Playoffs, when he put the No. 7 Chevrolet on pole at Kansas Speedway.
Allgaier laid down an incredible lap time of 30.157 seconds (179.063mph), and although the final set of corners wasn’t as good as the Xfinity Series veteran had hoped they would be, it was still enough to put the JR Motorsports entry on the pole position for the 302-mile contest on Saturday.
Connor Zilisch will start alongside his veteran teammate from JR Motorsports when the green flag drops, collecting his 15th front row start in the series in 2025. Zilisch, who has already been announced as a pending NASCAR Cup Series rookie for the 2026 season with Trackhouse Racing, has been to Victory Lane a whopping 10 times this season and looks to lock himself into the Championship 4 with a victory in the Focused Health 302.
Brandon Jones, winner at the most recent mile-and-a-half racetrack from Kansas Speedway, will start third-place, with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Aric Almirola just behind in fourth. Almirola, driving the No. 19 YoungLife Toyota GR Supra is attempting to put the entry into the Championship Race for the Owner’s Playoffs.
Nick Sanchez completed the top five in qualifying, one week after being eliminated from the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. Jesse Love was sixth-fastest, with Christian Eckes, Taylor Gray, Carson Kvapil, and Sheldon Creed rounding out the top-10 starters.
Among those in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs that did not earn a top-10 qualifying result are Sammy Smith in 15th and Sam Mayer in 16th. Corey Day, one of the fastest cars in practice, had a major bobble on his qualifying lap in Turns 3 and 4 and will roll from 19th.
The Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will take place Saturday, October 11, at 7:30 PM ET on The CW, Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Rank | Car | Driver | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 7 | Justin Allgaier (P) | 30.157 | 179.063 |
2 | 88 | Connor Zilisch (P) | 30.215 | 178.719 |
3 | 20 | Brandon Jones (P) | 30.361 | 177.860 |
4 | 19 | Aric Almirola | 30.384 | 177.725 |
5 | 48 | Nick Sanchez | 30.402 | 177.620 |
6 | 2 | Jesse Love (P) | 30.414 | 177.550 |
7 | 16 | Christian Eckes | 30.441 | 177.392 |
8 | 54 | Taylor Gray | 30.504 | 177.026 |
9 | 1 | Carson Kvapil (P) | 30.520 | 176.933 |
10 | 00 | Sheldon Creed (P) | 30.547 | 176.777 |
11 | 18 | William Sawalich | 30.672 | 176.056 |
12 | 21 | Austin Hill | 30.675 | 176.039 |
13 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | 30.675 | 176.039 |
14 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | 30.704 | 175.873 |
15 | 8 | Sammy Smith (P) | 30.740 | 175.667 |
16 | 41 | Sam Mayer (P) | 30.775 | 175.467 |
17 | 99 | Matt DiBenedetto | 30.787 | 175.399 |
18 | 10 | Daniel Dye | 30.812 | 175.256 |
19 | 17 | Corey Day | 30.813 | 175.251 |
20 | 25 | Harrison Burton | 30.832 | 175.143 |
21 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | 30.833 | 175.137 |
22 | 27 | Jeb Burton | 30.967 | 174.379 |
23 | 26 | Dean Thompson | 31.092 | 173.678 |
24 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | 31.146 | 173.377 |
25 | 42 | Anthony Alfredo | 31.165 | 173.271 |
26 | 24 | Trevor Bayne | 31.196 | 173.099 |
27 | 91 | Josh Williams | 31.399 | 171.980 |
28 | 31 | Blaine Perkins | 31.449 | 171.707 |
29 | 70 | Thomas Annunziata | 31.452 | 171.690 |
30 | 45 | Mason Massey | 31.482 | 171.527 |
31 | 44 | Brennan Poole | 31.491 | 171.478 |
32 | 53 | Joey Gase | 31.548 | 171.168 |
33 | 32 | Austin Green | 31.563 | 171.086 |
34 | 07 | Nick Leitz | 31.754 | 170.057 |
35 | 35 | Mason Maggio | 31.887 | 169.348 |
36 | 14 | Garrett Smithley | 32.071 | 168.376 |
37 | 4 | Parker Retzlaff | No Time | -- |
38 | 71 | Ryan Ellis | No Time | -- |
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Joseph Srigley covers NASCAR for TobyChristie.com, Racing America, and OnSI, and is the owner of the #SrigleyStats brand. With a higher education in the subjects of business, mathematics, and data analytics, Joseph is able to fully understand the inner workings of the sport through multiple points of perspective.
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