Connor Zilisch outpaces the field, secures Xfinity Series pole at COTA

As if there was going to be any doubt this evening. Connor Zilisch is on the pole for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at COTA. The road course prodigy is showing his talent off once again.

Connor Zilisch laid down a blistering lap of 1:37.262 on the new, shorter COTA track. He outpaced Ross Chastain by almost two-tenths of a second. Third place William Byron was almost a full second behind Zilisch.

Making his Cup Series debut this weekend as well, things are off to a great start for Zilisch. Is he going to walk away with two pole awards? What about checkered flags?

Second career pole award. The last time he had a pole in the Xfinity Series, he won the race in convincing fashion.

Connor Zilisch beat out Ross Chastain and William Byron for top honors. They were the only two within a second of Zilisch.

Justin Allgaier, Carson Kvapil, Corey Heim, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, and Christian Eckes made up the rest of the top-10. Parker Retzlaff, Brad Perez, and Thomas Annunziata were the three DNQs for the race.

JR Motorsports had four of the five fastest cars in qualifying. It is going to be a Chevy-heavy afternoon tomorrow in the race. The shorter track should increase racing action and give fans more beating and banging on restarts.

Connor Zilisch on pole, Love and Herbst go back and forth

During the final NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying group run, Riley Herbst and Jesse Love had a close call and a bit of a moment on track. While the two cars didn’t collide, Herbst took exception to how Love apparently pulled out onto the track.

Both Riley Herst and Jesse Love were focused on laying down the fastest lap they could. It appeared they were on two different runs as time ticked away in the final group session of qualifying.

This is a week of Double Duty for Herbst. He races for 23XI Racing in the Cup Series now. However, he’s stepping down to race for Joe Gibbs in the Xfinity Series this year. He previously raced for JGR part-time in 2018 and 2019 and then full-time in 2020.

Of course, Connor Zilisch will start on the pole at COTA. Zilisch and his road course talents are above and beyond everyone else racing in the series. That includes Cup Series talents like Herbst, Ross Chastain, and William Byron. Zilisch was almost an entire second quicker than Byron who was third overall in qualifying.