So, stop me if you’ve heard this one before… Jesse Love, driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing, will lead the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series field to green in Saturday’s The Progress Group 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.
The Menlo Park, California-native has won the last five O’Reilly Series pole positions at the 2.66-mile superspeedway in Alabama, a new track record, and it happened after laying down the fastest time in the second round of qualifying, sniping the pole out of the hands of rookie driver Jake Finch by two one-thousandths of a second.
“We’ve got a great group of people around us and we’re having a lot of fun,” Love said after qualifying. “This No. 2 car, man, it’s just such a pleasure to drive, it’s been such an honor and I’m looking forward to the challenge that is going to be today – there’s a lot of JR Motorsports guys up there that I know want my number, so I’m ready for it, I’m excited for the challenge and I’m ready to fight back.”
Love’s time of 52.435 seconds (182.626mph) narrowly edged out that of Jake Finch, who ran a time of 52.437 seconds (182.619). It’s by far the best-ever starting spot for Finch, making his seventh career start in the O’Reilly Series on Saturday at Talladega.
Sam Mayer, Carson Kvapil, and Austin Hill will roll from third, fourth, and fifth. Rajah Caruth and Anthony Alfredo completed a top-seven sweep for Chevrolet in NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying from Talladega Superspeedway.
Brent Crews will start the race eighth, with William Sawalich in ninth, and defending Talladega winner Corey Day rounding out the top-10. Day, driving the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro will have to start from the rear of the field when the green flag drops, after discovering an issue that will require them to make changes.
Other drivers in the Chase that will start outside the top-10 include Sammy Smith (11th), Sheldon Creed (12th), Justin Allgaier (14th), Brandon Jones (16th), Taylor Gray (17th), and Parker Retzlaff (26th).
With 41 drivers on the premises trying to qualify for Saturday’s 250-mile contest, three were sent home prematurely: the No. 45 of Lavar Scott, the No. 47 of Carson Ware, and the No. 38 of Patrick Emerling.
