TALLADEGA, Ala. – Michael Annett scored his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory during the first superspeedway race of the season at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway in February.
Saturday morning at Talladega Superspeedway, Annett returned to superspeedway competition and proved that his early-season speed and success was no fluke by earning his first career pole.
Annett rocketed to the top of the charts during qualifying with a blistering lap of 50.596 seconds (189.264 mph) during the second and final knockout round.
The Des Moines, Iowa native was nearly two tenths of a second faster around the 2.66-mile Alabama oval than his nearest pursuer.
“Both runs were pretty much the same: really fast,” said Annett of his No. 1 TMC Transportation Chevrolet Camaro. “We got our heights right yesterday and weren’t dragging anything around the track, and it’s a testament to these guys working really hard on this car to get it right for the whole weekend.
“We knew we had speed after winning at Daytona and it feels good to come here to Talladega and show that we made things even better by sitting on the pole,” Annett added. “The track position is obviously a huge benefit for the start of this race, and now we’ll see if we can convert it into another victory.”
Tyler Reddick, who won the season-opening pole at Daytona in February, will join Annett on the front row after a lap of 50.771 seconds (188.612 mph) with his No. 2 Roland Chevrolet in the final round.
Journeyman drivers Ross Chastain and Ryan Sieg will share the second row of the grid, with Chastain’s Kaulig Racing teammate Justin Haley completing the top five.
Brett Moffitt, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Gray Gaulding, Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Justin Allgaier and Cole Custer filled out the first six rows and all advanced through both knockout rounds on Saturday.
Brandon Jones was the first driver who failed to advance out of the first round of qualifying. He’ll start 13th in the First Foundation Toyota Supra come race time after a lap of 51.247 seconds (186.860 mph).
Other notables starting deeper in Saturday’s field include Noah Gragson (14th), John Hunter Nemechek (15th), Josh Williams (16th), Austin Cindric (17th) and former Xfinity Series champion Jeff Green (21st).
Cody Ware, the first driver out to qualify on Saturday morning, spun in turn one just after the conclusion of his timed lap. His car was undamaged and Ware will roll off 34th for the MoneyLion 300.
“As I was getting up to speed, I noticed that even in gear, my car was revving up to neutral,” said Ware. “I wanted to get it off the race track as soon as possible, but obviously carrying a lot of speed through the apron added to the fact that I spun around. I think, though, that dropping either transmission fluid or gear fluid affected us spinning out.
“Again, I wanted to get off the track as soon as possible to not cause the cleanup crew any more issues, and thankfully we kept the car in one piece,” he added. “B.J. (McLeod) gave me the call to hop in it last minute this week, and I think we can salvage it and have a good race day this afternoon.”
To view complete qualifying results, advance to the next page.