Chandler Smith claims NASCAR Xfinity Series pole in New Hampshire
For the second weekend in a row, Chandler Smith will lead the NASCAR Xfinity Series field to the green flag.
Smith won the pole for the Ambetter Health 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He ran a lap of 30.159 seconds, 0.040 seconds better than John Hunter Nemechek.
This is Smith’s third career Xfinity Series pole. Last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he won the pole, led five laps but ran out of fuel while restarting second in overtime.
In March, he won the pole and led 118 of 200 laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway but lost the lead with two laps to go and finished third after his tires wore out.
The top 10 qualifiers are as follows: Smith, Nemechek, Josh Berry, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Cole Custer, Sammy Smith, Austin Hill, Austin Dillon, Sam Mayer
Joe Graf Jr. qualified 19th in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota.
Greg Van Alst qualified 36th and turned the slowest lap of any driver. However, Alpha Prime Racing said Van Alst had a brake issue and took it easy.
Ryan Sieg and Kaz Grala start 37th and 38th. Neither of them turned a qualifying lap after crashing in practice.
The Ambetter Health 200 goes green Saturday at 3 p.m. ET (Broadcast: USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90).
The full starting lineup is here:
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com
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