Looking to beat his little brother, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular Austin Dillon took the Coors Light Pole Award for tonight’s Owens Coming Atticat 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Dillon, 25, laid down a 30.583-second lap to claim the NASCAR Xfinity Series pole, his fifth pole of 2015.
Ross Kenseth will make his series debut from the front row. Kenseth, son of 2003 NSCS champion Matt Kenseth, ended the final round tied with Elliott Sadler for second on the charts following a 30.585-second lap, only .002 seconds behind Dillon’s pole time.
Due to Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota leading Roush Fenway Racing’s No. 11 Ford in owner points, Kenseth will start in second, with Sadler starting in third.
Regan Smith rattled off the fourth-quickest lap to lead JR Motorsports, with Brendan Gaughan rounding out the top five.
Defending winner Chase Elliott will start sixth, with Daniel Suarez, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher and Darrell Wallace Jr. rounding out the top 10.
Fresh off a Camping World Truck Series win at Iowa Speedway, Erik Jones advanced to the final round before qualifying 11th. Dalton Armstrong put down the slowest lap in the round to earn the 12th starting position.
Brian Scott, Ryan Reed and Brennan Poole finished out the top 15 after failing to advance to the final round. JRM driver Ben Rhodes also failed to advance, qualifying 17th in the No. 88 Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet. Rhodes, 18, is making his second-career NXS start.
Ryan Blaney topped the first round with a lap time of 30.16 seconds, but failed to complete a lap in round two after colliding with the outside wall coming off turn 2. Blaney, who has two wins in 34 NXS starts, will start from the rear in his No. 22 Hertz Ford after going to a backup car.
The red flag fell twice during qualifications, both during the first round.
Making his first non-restrictor plate start since 2001, Bobby Gerhart spun his No. 0 Chevrolet to cause the first stoppage. The second red flag came minutes later, as Joey Gase lost control of his No. 52 coming out of turn 2 and made heavy contact with the backstretch wall.
Coverage for the Owens Coming Atticat 300 at Chicagoland Speedway will begin at 10:00 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2.
2015 OWENS CORNING 300 QUALIFYING SPEEDS
About the author
A graduate of Ball State, Aaron rejoins Frontstretch for his second season in 2016 following a successful year that included covering seven races and starting the popular "Two-Headed Monster" column in 2015. Now in his third year of covering motorsports, Aaron serves as an Assistant Editor for Frontstretch while also contributing to other popular sites including Speed51 and The Apex. He encourages you to come say hi when you see him at the track.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.