After turning the fastest lap in each of the first two rounds of qualifying, William Byron captured his second career XFINITY Series pole on Saturday at Dover International Speedway.
Byron ran a lap of 156.209 mph, .038 seconds quicker than Daniel Suarez (155.952 mph). The No. 9 team was excited about getting it’s second pole of the season, especially now that the playoffs have begun.
“This place is so demanding, you’ve got to drive to the very limit in qualifying,” Byron said of the run. “We did that. The car was really good and responded to it, and I’m proud of these guys.”
The first-career pole for the Charlotte native came at Phoenix International Raceway earlier this season, where Byron finished the afternoon in fourth position.
Spring 2016 winner at the Monster Mile, Erik Jones, was third quickest in the qualifying session (155.434 mph), while Justin Allgaier was fourth (155.373 mph) and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top five (155.233 mph).
Cole Custer, Brennan Poole, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Hemric and Elliott Sadler filled out the top 10.
Blaney swept the pair of practice sessions on Friday, making many long runs.
Six of the 12 drivers failed to make it to the final round of qualifying. Matt Tifft was unable to make a run during the 10-minute session due to a leak in the right rear tire, placing 23rd, after turning the 10th quickest time in the opening round.
The No. 19 crew will have to change the right rear tire prior to the 200-mile race and start from the rear. In two career starts at Dover, Tifft has a pair of top-10 finishes.
The green flag for the Drive Sober 200 will begin shortly after 3 p.m. ET. Suarez is the defending winner of the event, leading 123 of 200 laps en route to his second career victory.
Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.