The king of restrictor plate in the NASCAR Xfinity Series got it done in qualifying.
The now 29-year-old birthday driver Austin Hill, who has won both restrictor plate races in the Xfinity Series this year, dominated the field in qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway posting a best time of 182.459 mph.
Richard Childress Racing teammate Sheldon Creed joined Hill in the front row. He qualified with a speed of 181.632 mph.
The fastest Toyota, John Hunter Nemechek, will start third. Parker Retzlaff earned back-to-back fourth place starts for Jordan Anderson Racing, and Jade Buford put the second Big Machine Racing entry fifth.
Anthony Alfredo, Justin Allgaier, Retzlaff’s teammate Jeb Burton, Daniel Hemric, and the fastest Ford in the field Brett Moffitt rounded out the top 10.
Eight of the top 10 cars that qualified were Chevrolets.
Buford’s full-time teammate Parker Kligerman did not clock a lap as he dealt with a flat right rear tire on his out lap and brought his car back to pit road without tearing his car up. NASCAR was going to allow the No. 48 Chevrolet make another attempt, but the team declined to retry as they figure out what caused the failure. His flat tire caused a lengthy delay.
Four drivers did not qualify for Saturday’s (April 22) race: David Starr, Mike Harmon, Jason White, and Jesse Iwuji.
Xfinity Starting Lineup for Talladega
The Xfinity Series will take the green for the Ag-Pro 300 on April 22 at 4 p.m. ET. Broadcasting will be on FOX Sports 1.
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime