Austin Dillon will lead the field down to green in today's NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway.
Dillon toured the 2.5 mile superspeedway with a lap at 190.251 mph to top the speed charts in the final round of knockout qualifying.
Justin Marks was second, with Chad Boat third, Brendan Gaughan fourth and Aric Almirola fifth. Erik Jones, Dakoda Armstrong, Ryan Reed, J.J. Yeley and Chris Buescher rounded out the top 10.
Just as it did during NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying earlier this week, the group qualifying format resulted in a multi-car crash that left several cars damaged.
The accident occurred at the end of round one qualifying for the second group of drivers, when Daniel Suarez made contact with another car, triggering a six car melee that included Tanner Berryhill, Carlos Contreras, Landon Cassill, Blake Koch and Harrison Rhodes.
While Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was able to avoid the crash in front of him, it cost him his qualifying run as he slowed down to avoid the trouble. He will start dead last in 40th, using a past champions provisional to make the field.
Dawsonville, GA's Chase Elliott will roll off from the 35th starting position.
Forty cars will take the green flag, with Joe Nemechek, Scott Lagasse, Jr., Bobby Gerhart, Berryhill, Rhodes, Derrike Cope and Contreras failing to qualify.
WDUN will have live coverage of Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway beginning at 3 pm on 102.9 FM.
NASCAR XFINITY Series
Daytona International Speedway - Daytona Beach, FL
Alert Today Florida 300 Qualifying - Feb. 21, 2015
1. (33) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 190.251 mph.
2. (29) Justin Marks, Toyota, 190.158.
3. (84) Chad Boat, Chevrolet, 190.146.
4. (62) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 189.434.
5. (98) Aric Almirola, Ford, 189.35.
6. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 189.338.
7. (43) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 189.227.
8. (16) Ryan Reed, Ford, 189.187.
9. (28) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 189.167.
10. (60) Chris Buescher, Ford, 189.119.
11. (1) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 182.641.
12. (7) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 182.534.
13. (55) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 187.036.
14. (22) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 186.579.
15. (2) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 185.985.
16. (39) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 185.824.
17. (14) Cale Conley, Toyota, 185.159.
18. (44) David Starr, Toyota, 184.023.
19. (74) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 179.551.
20. (13) Chris Cockrum, Chevrolet, 174.321.
21. (4) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 186.893.
22. (10) Jeff Green, Toyota, 186.536.
23. (51) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 186.443.
24. (97) Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, 186.1.
25. (24) Eric McClure, Toyota, 185.862.
26. (52) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 185.805.
27. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 185.617.
28. (6) Darrell Wallace Jr., Ford, 185.296.
29. (25) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, 185.189.
30. (92) Dexter Bean, Chevrolet, 185.056.
31. (26) Mike Wallace, Toyota, 184.987.
32. (54) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 184.983.
33. (40) Derek White, Dodge, 184.904.
34. (3) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, owner points.
35. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, owner points.
36. (18) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, owner points.
37. (90) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, owner points.
38. (8) Blake Koch, Toyota, owner points.
39. (01) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, owner points.
40. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, past champion.
Failed to Qualify
41. (87) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 184.441.
42. (19) Scott Lagasse Jr., Toyota, 184.302.
43. (85) Bobby Gerhart, Chevrolet, 184.109.
44. (17) Tanner Berryhill, Toyota, 176.665.
45. (0) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, 176.63.
46. (70) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 171.684.
47. (15) Carlos Contreras, Chevrolet, 165.041
Sunday
November 24th, 2024
7:36AM
