In a qualifying session that saw numerous cars have handling issues, Cole Custer scored pole position Saturday (June 24) for the Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Custer turned a lap of 157.02 mph to beat Chandler Smith by over a tenth of a second.
Sammy Smith qualified third, Ty Gibbs fourth, and Custer’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Riley Herbst completed the top five.
It is Custer’s third NASCAR Xfinity Series pole of 2023 for SHR.
Zane Smith, driving the No. 28 car that won at Sonoma Raceway in the hands of Aric Almirola, qualified sixth. Austin Hill was seventh, followed by Friday night’s Craftsman Truck Series winner Carson Hocevar. Kyle Sieg and Parker Retzlaff rounded out the top-10 qualifiers.
Xfinity Nashville Starting Lineup
Further back in the field, Emerling-Gase Motorsports co-owner Joey Gase qualified the No. 53 car in a last-minute driver change. Gase replaced CJ McLaughlin, who wrecked the primary car in practice and was promptly replaced.
In qualifying itself, Sage Karam hit the wall in turn 4 on his lap, as did Connor Mosack.
Of the 41 cars that attempted to qualify, 38 will take the green flag. Karam was a surprise DNQ with Alpha Prime Racing, the first of his NASCAR career. He joined Chad Finchum and Dawson Cram in failing to make the starting grid.
You can catch the NASCAR Xfinity Series from Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday afternoon. Television coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA.