Erik Jones will begin the first round of the inaugural NASCAR XFINITY Series Chase in the same position he ended the regular season: In the lead.
Jones beat out teammate Daniel Suarez with a 28.845-second lap to take the 21 Means 21 Pole Award for Saturday’s VisitMyrtleBeach.com 300 at Kentucky Speedway. The result is 11th-career pole, and his eighth of 2016.
Joining Jones on the front row will be Suarez, who came just short of the pole with a 28.966-second lap. Elliott Sadler, Ty Dillon and Sam Hornish, Jr. completed the top 5, with Matt Tifft, Brendan Gaughan, Ryan Blaney, Darrell Wallace, Jr., and Justin Allgaier rounding out the top 10.
Five Chase contenders missed out on a spot inside of the top 10. Brennan Poole will roll off 11th, with Brandon Jones (14th), Blake Koch (15th), Ryan Reed (16th) and Ryan Sieg (19th) following to complete the Chase grid.
Coverage for the 300-mile Chase opener for the XFINITY Series will begin at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
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.