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Alex Bowman earns Xfinity Series pole award at Phoenix

JHby:Jonathan Howard•03/08/25•

Jondean25

Alex Bowman
Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

How about a little NASCAR Cup Series talent to shake up the Xfinity Series race today? Alex Bowman will lead the field to green. Bowman earned his fourth career pole in the series and will race the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy this afternoon.

Alex Bowman will have to hop out of the Xfinity car, into the Cup car, and then back into the Xfinity car. He has a busy afternoon ahead of him.

With Bowman setting the tone in qualifying, the Xfinity Series regulars are on notice. Bowman is going to do whatever he can to win at his home track. Sheldon Creed will start P2 on the front row next to the 17 car.

Sammy Smith and Connor Zilisch locked up the second row for JR Motorsports. Keep an eye on them, Smith won this race two years ago.

Alex Bowman is going to be tough to beat for this Xfinity Series field. However, never say never. There is a ton of talent in the series right now. Even for a Cup regular, today’s race will not be easy.

On the Cup Series side, Bowman has a great looking paint scheme but not a lot of speed. His Ally/Best Friends paint scheme is to help bring awareness to shelter pets around the country. The motto “Save Them All” will be on the 48 car this weekend. A lot of cute puppies on the side, too.

While things went well for Bowman in Xfinity qualifying, the same can’t be said for others. There were some issues in the garage area for Ryan Sieg.

Alex Bowman on pole, Ryan Sieg in a hole

After qualifying P30 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix, Ryan Sieg had an unfortunate moment in the garage area. A raised curb in the last stall of the Xfinity garage caused damaged to the No. 39 car.

Ryan Sieg was just trying to take his car to the garage. Then a loud noise rang out. It was the bottom of the car scraping along the raised curb that goes up into the garage stall.

Eric Johnson Jr., ARCA driver, was there in the garage area. He said he heard the noise and went to check it out. Not what you want to see on Saturday morning before a race.

“Not ideal,” Johnson Jr. wrote on X/Twitter. “Heard a loud hit in the garage during qualifying. Walked over to find Ryan Sieg had severely damaged the nose after hitting a slightly raised curb inside the final stall in the Xfinity garage. No bueno.” Johnson also took pictures.