Brandon Jones wins his first O’Reilly pole of the season at Pocono

LONG POND, PA. — Brandon Jones earns the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series pole at Pocono after the series qualifies for the first time in a month.

This is his first pole of the season and his 15th career series pole overall.

Taylor Gray will join his teammate on the front row in second for an all Joe Gibbs Racing front row lockout.

William Byron will make another appearance in the JR Motorsports No. 88 from third. Then, championship leader Justin Allgaier will start to his outside in fourth.

The organization doesn’t have to look far down the order to find two more of their entries. Sammy Smith will start fifth with teammate Carson Kvapil, in the No. 9 this weekend, in sixth.

Sam Mayer will start seventh and rookie Brent Crews makes his debut at the tricky triangle in the fourth row from eighth.

Finally, Ryan Sieg and William Sawalich rounds out the top ten in the fifth row.

Notable Events

Tight setups and low grip made both sessions highly interrupted.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Connor Zilisch returned to JR Motorsports in their No. 1 entry and will start 14th.

Jesse Love led the lone practice session but a bobble off of the final turn before his qualifying lap relegated him to start 21st.

Nick Sanchez returns to the series after his nine race hiatus. He will start on the same row as Love in 22nd in his first of four races in the Peterson Motorsports No. 87.

Both Nathan Byrd and Dexter Bean wrecked in sequence of each other /on the exit of turn two. Byrd was able to limp his No. 42 back around but Bean suffered too much damage to finish his lap. Both will start in the rear for repairs later on.

Blaine Perkins also fell victim to the lack of grip in the same corner. His teammate Rajah Caruth nearly joined him in the wall but he successfully chased his car up the track and kept all four tires going forward.

Several cars had issues in practice which resulted in four cars not participating in the session.

Thankfully for them, all 38 entries made the field and will start the Millertech 250 presented by KOA later today.

Below is the starting lineup for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Pocono Raceway.

Starting Lineup

1. Brandon Jones: 54.686
2. Taylor Gray: 54.749
3. William Byron(i): 54.787
4. Justin Allgaier: 54.798
5. Sammy Smith: 54.923
6. Carson Kvapil: 54.959
7. Sam Mayer: 55.008
8. Brent Crews: 55.010
9. Ryan Sieg: 55.119
10. William Sawalich: 55.122
11. Corey Day: 55.169
12. Anthony Alfredo: 55.221
13. Parker Retzlaff: 55.298
14. Connor Zilisch(i): 55.304
15. Jeremey Clements: 55.343
16. Sheldon Creed: 55.354
17. Austin Hill: 55.406
18. Jeb Burton: 55.462
19. Brennan Poole: 55.538
20. Kyle Sieg: 55.619
21. Jesse Love: 55.722
22. Nick Sanchez: 55.873
23. Harrison Burton: 56.035
24. Ryan Ellis: 56.039
25. Lavar Scott: 56.196
26. Rajah Caruth: 56.221
27. Patrick Staropoli: 56.221
28. Patrick Emerling: 56.551
29. Leland Honeyman Jr. 56.553
30. Carson Ware: 57.492
31. Natalie Decker: 57.832
32. Nathan Byrd: 69.112
33. Blaine Perkins: 117.208
34. Dexter Bean: No Time
35. Dean Thompson: No Time
36. Cole Custer(i): No Time
37. Josh Bilicki: No Time
38. Joey Gase: No Time