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Qualifying report

Hemric beats Larson to pole for Daytona Xfinity race

Daniel Hemric will start from the pole for Saturday’s PowerShares QQQ 300.

Daniel Hemric, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Daniel Hemric, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Barry Cantrell / NKP / Motorsport Images

Hemric scored his second career-pole in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevy with a lap of 47.541-seconds.

“It’s incredible to kick the year off like this,” Hemric said. “I’m just proud of our guys and proud of our company. The only thing I’ve ever won at Daytona was a go-kart race so it’s nice to put a notch in my belt at this level.”

Kyle Larson was second followed by Matt Tifft, Joey Logano, Spencer Gallagher, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Truex, Michael Annett, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric and Elliott Sadler.

Allgaier set the quick pace of 188.115mph, but was bumped Gallagher who was the eighth driver on the track. Gallagher’s dominance was short-lived as Larson bumped his with a speed of 188.980mph.

Logano moved up to second with a lap of 188.253mph but was quickly knocked off by Tifft’s run of 188.917mph. But it was Hemric who topped both session’s and did so as the last driver out in second round with a lap of 189.310mph.

The pole was the sixth for RCR at Daytona in the Xfinity Series and the fourth-consecutive overall.

Round 1

Hemric also set the quick pace for Round 1 of Xfinity Series qualifying with a lap of 186.790mph. Tifft, Logano, Larson, Gallagher, Annett, Allgaier, Truex, Salder, Reddick, Cindric and Elliott all transfered to the second round.

Vinnie Miller was the ninth car on the track and jumped to the top of the speed chart with a lap of 183.614mph . However, ever posting the fastest lap, the rookie spun on the apron as he started his cool down lap.

After one-third of the field had posted times, Jeremy Clements topped Miller with a speed of 184.328mph. Ryan Sieg bumped Clements with a lap of 184.718mph. Miller remained third followed by Brandon Brown, Ryan Ellis, Caesar Bacarella, Jeff Green and Gray Gaulding.

Joe Nemechek’s lap of 185.759mph sent him to P1. Sieg, Alex Labbe, Clements and Garrett Smithley rounded out the top five after half of the field posted times.

Hemric was the 26th driver to post a time (47.672mph) and put the No. 21 Chevy to the top of the chart. Nemechek dropped to second but was quickly bumped by Elliott Sadler’s lap of 187.328mph. Joey Gase was fourth followed by Sieg. Sadler’s JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier moved into P2 with his lap of 187.770mph.

Joey Logano’s lap (188.328mph) was second quick of the 32 drivers making laps. Allgaier, Ryan Truex and Sadler were the top five cars until Kyle Larson posted the third fastest time—47.839-seconds. Matt Tifft jumped to second-quick (188.648mph) of the 37 cars in his Richard Childress Racing debut.

With five drivers remaining, the top 12 were Hemric, Tifft, Logano, Larson, Annett, Truex, Sadler, Cindric and Aric Almirola. Chase Elliott cracked the top 10 as Spencer Gallagher posted the fifth quick speed (187.837mph).

Following violations by the Nos. 3 and 74 teams, NASCAR suspended both crew chiefs as well as Austin Dillon’s car chief. Neither driver was allowed to qualify for the PowerShares QQQ 300.

Cla#DriverManufacturerTimeGapMph
1 21 united_states Daniel Hemric  Chevrolet 47.541   189.310
2 42 united_states Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 47.624 0.083 188.980
3 2 united_states Matt Tifft  Chevrolet 47.640 0.099 188.917
4 22 united_states Joey Logano  Ford 47.808 0.267 188.253
5 23 united_states Spencer Gallagher  Chevrolet 47.839 0.298 188.131
6 7 united_states Justin Allgaier  Chevrolet 47.843 0.302 188.115
7 11 united_states Ryan Truex  Chevrolet 47.846 0.305 188.103
8 5 united_states Michael Annett  Chevrolet 47.857 0.316 188.060
9 88 united_states Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 48.117 0.576 187.044
10 9 united_states Tyler Reddick  Chevrolet 48.143 0.602 186.943
11 60 united_states Austin Cindric  Ford 48.188 0.647 186.768
12 1 united_states Elliott Sadler  Chevrolet 0.000   0.000
13 98 united_states Aric Almirola  Ford 48.242 0.701 186.559
14 20 united_states Christopher Bell  Toyota 48.294 0.753 186.359
15 00 united_states Cole Custer  Ford 48.328 0.787 186.227
16 16 united_states Ryan Reed  Ford 48.410 0.869 185.912
17 15 united_states Joe Nemechek  Chevrolet 48.450 0.909 185.759
18 18 mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 48.457 0.916 185.732
19 19 united_states Brandon Jones  Toyota 48.459 0.918 185.724
20 35 united_states Joey Gase  Chevrolet 48.594 1.053 185.208
21 28 united_states Dylan Lupton  Ford 48.710 1.169 184.767
22 93 united_states Ryan Sieg  Chevrolet 48.723 1.182 184.718
23 36 canada Alex Labbé  Chevrolet 48.738 1.197 184.661
24 4 united_states Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 48.799 1.258 184.430
25 51 united_states Jeremy Clements  Chevrolet 48.826 1.285 184.328
26 0 united_states Garrett Smithley  Chevrolet 48.861 1.320 184.196
27 90 united_states Josh Williams  Chevrolet 48.937 1.396 183.910
28 01 united_states Vinnie Miller  Chevrolet 49.016 1.475 183.614
29 24 united_states Kaz Grala  Ford 49.081 1.540 183.370
30 86 united_states Brandon Brown  Chevrolet 49.108 1.567 183.270
31 78 united_states Ryan Ellis  Toyota 49.116 1.575 183.240
32 8 united_states Caesar Bacarella  Toyota 49.224 1.683 182.838
33 38 united_states Jeff Green  Chevrolet 49.227 1.686 182.826
34 52 united_states David Starr  Chevrolet 49.327 1.786 182.456
35 76 united_states Spencer Boyd  Chevrolet 49.505 1.964 181.800
36 66 united_states Timmy Hill  Toyota 49.511 1.970 181.778
37 55 united_states Stephen Leicht  Toyota 50.192 2.651 179.311
38 40 united_states Chad Finchum  Toyota 51.453 3.912 174.917
39 39 united_states J.J. Yeley  Chevrolet 51.660 4.119 174.216
40 3 united_states Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 0.000   0.000

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