It doesn’t seem to matter who is driving or what manufacturer is supporting (or even what the team’s ownership composition is), when it comes to NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Haas Factory Team has been the class of the field.
The organization, courtesy of a stunning lap by Sheldon Creed, has now won the pole at the legendary 2.5-mile oval every year since NASCAR returned to its traditional configuration in 2024, and has managed to do so with three different drivers.
Piloting the No. 00 Road Ranger Chevrolet Camaro, Creed laid down a fast lap of 53.069 seconds (169.561mph) in qualifying for Saturday’s Pennzoil 250, securing his fifth career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series pole position and his first since last Summer at EchoPark Speedway.
“I think so, I mean Riley Herbst did it a couple of years ago in our cars, so I mean, hats off to my guys, giving me the balance there to be able to run wide-open and put up a really good lap,” said Creed after qualifying. “So, hopefully we have our race balance right for later today and can put a good and smart race together, be good on pit road, and try to have a shot by the end. Appreciate everyone at Haas Factory Team, really cool to have two cars in the top three.”
Creed managed to barely hold onto the pole position over JR Motorsports driver Carson Kvapil, who had the No. 1 WILDE Protein Chips Chevrolet Camaro within a fraction of a second of the Haas Factory Team driver’s qualifying time, but ultimately came up 0.029 seconds short.
Sam Mayer, a teammate to Creed at Haas Factory Team and the defending polesitter of the Pennzoil 250, will start Saturday’s event in third. Jeremy Clements, the all-time starts leader in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, will start a career-best fourth at Indianapolis.
Taylor Gray rounded out the top-five. Brandon Jones will roll from sixth, with NASCAR Cup Series drivers Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain in seventh and eighth. William Sawalich and Sammy Smith completed the top-10.
Other notables starting outside the top-10 include Corey Day in 11th, Justin Allgaier in 13th, Brent Crews in 15th, Parker Retzlaff in 17th, Austin Hill in 19th, and Jesse Love in 26th.
The Pennzoil 250 will take place Saturday, July 25 at 4:00 PM ET on The CW.
