A race win may have been taken away in 2012 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but Elliott Sadler is in perfect position to get it back in 2017.
Turning a lap of 54.452 seconds (165.283 mph), Sadler bested Erik Jones to win the pole for Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 from Indianapolis. The result is the 17th pole of his XFINITY Series career and first since 2014.
“It’s always great to get a pole at Indy,” Sadler said. “I wish I could say it’s me but this team has some fast cars. That’s true speed with this new package. It’s still going to be important to stay up front. The fans are in for a treat.”
Jones, who led the way in the first round, came up only 0.004 seconds short of Sadler’s time. William Byron, Justin Allgaier and Michael Annett completed the top five, giving JR Motorsports four of the top five starting spots.
Cole Custer starts sixth with Matt Tifft, Ryan Sieg, Ben Kennedy and Ryan Reed the top 10. The 8th-place result for Sieg is his best of 2017.
Two-time defending race winner Kyle Busch was off familiar pace, qualifying 11th ahead of Joey Logano.
Click here for full starting lineup.Â
Four cars in the top five of #XFINITYSeries @IMS qualifying for @JRMotorsports.
Is that good? pic.twitter.com/wKaDollSSi
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) July 22, 2017
Up next @IMS – the @NASCAR_XFINITY #LillyDiabetes250! 3:30 PM ET on @NBCSN #AskMRN pic.twitter.com/F19YZJqObq
— Motor Racing Network (@MRNRadio) July 22, 2017
#LillyDiabetes250 Final Qualifying Results @IMS:
P1 @Elliott_Sadler
P17 @brennanpoole
P18 @TylerReddick #Poole48 #Reddick42— CGR NASCAR Teams (@CGRnascar) July 22, 2017
Growing up in Easton, Pa., Zach Catanzareti has grown his auto racing interest from fandom to professional. Joining Frontstretch in 2015, Zach enjoys nothing more than being at the track, having covered his first half-season of 18 races in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2017. With experience behind the wheel, behind the camera and in the media center, he thrives on being an all-around reporter.
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