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

Stan Szeto-Imagn Images


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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Published | Modified
Joseph Srigley
JOSEPH SRIGLEY

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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