Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
Team Penske driver Alex Tagliani will start from pole in his only scheduled NASCAR XFINITY Series start for 2016.
Tagliani was quickest in the final round of qualifying to earn his fourth career pole in only his eighth series start. Tagliani earned pole with a lap of 2:12.641 minutes.
“Greg (Erwin, crew chief) did some finetuning changes to make the car less tight, and it was obviously the right call,” Tagliani said after winning the pole. “It was a good day for the (No.) 22 Discount Tire.”
Michael McDowell in the Richard Childress Racing No. 2 Chevrolet qualified second, despite setting a new track record in the first round of qualifying. McDowell’s lap in the first round of qualifying was 2:12.027 seconds, nearly a full second quicker than what he posted in round two.
Mid-Ohio winner Justin Marks qualified third followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Owen Kelly and Daniel Suarez.
Ty Dillon, Ryan Reed, Brendan Gaughan, Blake Koch and Erik Jones completed the top-10 in qualifying.
Series point leader Elliott Sadler will start 14th for Saturday’s race.
The first round of qualifying was red flagged twice for two separate incidents. The first was for Alon Day had blew a tire, and went off course. Day was unable to complete a lap, and will start 39th. The second incident was for debut driver Josh Bilicki. Bilicki went into turn one too hot, and piled into the tire barriers. Despite the wreck, Bilicki was quick enough on his first timed lap to secure the 23rd starting position.
