AVONDALE, Ariz. – Making his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season, Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green flag during Saturday’s LS Tractors 200 at Phoenix Raceway.
Busch, driving the No. 54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, lapped the one-mile circuit in 26.869 seconds at 133.983 mph to earn the 68th pole of his Xfinity Series career.
“They said we unloaded similar to how these guys raced here last year and I was like, ‘We are off in left field man.’ We were really, really bad. We had a lot of work to do,” Busch said. “I think we certainly made a lot of gains on the race car. The Twix Cookies and Cream Supra is fast. I think it’s a lot better than what it was.
“I hope that’s its going to live up to the speed that it showed right there in qualifying in today’s race.”
Austin Cindric, driving the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang, qualified second with a 26.933-second lap at 133.665 mph. He’ll be looking for his first victory on an oval later Saturday afternoon.
“We’ve always come here with really fast race cars and struggled a bit in qualifying, so this is definitely my best qualifying effort here in Phoenix. Hopefully that means something,” Cindric said.
Harrison Burton, who earned his first Xfinity Series victory last week at Auto Club Speedway, will start third. Brad Keselowski, also making his first Xfinity Series start of the season, qualified fourth. Ross Chastain completed the top-five.
Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Sieg will start sixth through 10th, respectively.
J.J. Yeley, Matt Mills and Bayley Currey failed to qualify for the 36-car field. The LS Tractors 200 is scheduled to start shortly after 4 p.m EST.
LS Tractors 200 Starting Lineup
1. Kyle Busch
2. Austin Cindric
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Harrison Burton
5. Ross Chastain
6. Justin Allgaier
7. Noah Gragson
8. Brandon Jones
9. Chase Briscoe
10. Ryan Sieg
11. Riley Herbst
12. Daniel Hemric
13. Brandon Brown
14. Justin Haley
15. Myatt Snider
16. Landon Cassill
17. Brett Moffitt
18. Jeremy Clements
19. Joe Graf Jr.
20. Dillon Bassett
21. B.J. McLeod
22. Alex Labbe
23. Ray Black Jr.
24. Josh Williams
25. Stephen Leicht
26. Michael Annett
27. Joe Nemechek
28. Tommy Joe Martins
29. Jeff Green
30. Timmy Hill
31. Chad Finchum
32. David Starr
33. Jesse Little
34. Colby Howard
35. Vinnie Miller
36. Kody Vanderwal