Rajah Caruth grabs crucial first career O’Reilly Series pole at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Rajah Caruth grabs his first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series pole in the most crucial race of his season so far.

This is his first career pole in what will be his 45th career start in the series.

Caruth entered the summer Daytona race 15 points below the Chase cutline and his team brought a rocket ship to try and jump into the Chase.

The pole also marks the sixth different JR Motorsports driver to qualify on pole this season.

Furthermore, the series continued their active streak of different pole winners. There has been an astonishing 13 different pole winners in the previous 13 races with qualifying in the series.

Caruth will start alongside the hottest driver in the series, his teammate Carson Kvpail.

The two JRM standouts set the absolute benchmark on single-lap speed. The duo eclipsed their first round time by nearly a tenth and their nearest competitor was nearly a tenth behind by the end.

Jesse Love will start third and share the second row with the driver directly above him in the standings. Sheldon Creed will start just behind from fourth.

It is an all Sam third row. Sammy Smith will start his final Daytona race with JRM from fifth. The ex-JRM driver, Sam Mayer, looks to lock his way into the Chase from sixth.

William Sawalich enters Daytona on the cutline and will start seventh. Then, the Daytona spring winner Austin Hill will lineup from eighth.

Finally, qualifying went completely different for Anthony Alfredo around the high-banks of Daytona compared to the spring. He will start ninth with Chase hopeful Taylor Gray to his outside from tenth.

Notable Entries

Superspeedway racing usually brings a few different names out of the woodworks for the event and the Winn-Dixie 250 is no exception.

Joe Gibbs Racing rookie Brent Crews will start his first race at Daytona from 17th. He currently sits one point above the cutline and is a few rows behind his dueling teammates.

Then, DGM Racing returned with three cars with Leland Honeyman Jr in 20th and Josh Williams beside him in 19th.

Daniel Dye will run his first of three scheduled 2026 races in the Jordan Anderson Racing No. 32 from 25th. He will rejoin the team in 2027 for the full O’Reilly Series campaign.

Beside him is Natalie Decker for Youngs Motorsports. She set an impressive time to lock herself in on pure pace in 26th.

Finally, longtime ARCA regular Andy Jankowiak made the jump up to the series for his debut. He took over the RSS Racing No. 39 entry from Ryan Sieg to lock himself into the race before qualifying.

The move paid off for them as he was the slowest on speed and will start last.

39 entrants qualified for 38 starting positions. Therefore, Dawson Cram went home based on speed and owners points.

Below is the full starting lineup for the Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona.

Starting Lineup

1. Rajah Caruth: 49.118
2. Carson Kvapil: 49.219
3. Jesse Love: 49.288
4. Sheldon Creed: 49.320
5. Sammy Smith: 49.332
6. Sam Mayer: 49.338
7. William Sawalich: 49.365
8. Austin Hill: 49.392
9. Anthony Alfredo: 49.486
10. Taylor Gray: 49.625
11. Harrison Burton: 49.609
12. Ryan Sieg: 49.610
13. Brandon Jones: 49.611
14. Corey Day: 49.612
15. Nick Sanchez: 49.612
16. Dean Thompson: 49.616
17. Brent Crews: 49.664
18. Justin Allgaier: 49.685
19. Josh Williams: 49.697
20. Leland Honeyman Jr.(i): 49.782
21. Caesar Bacarella: 49.794
22. Ryan Ellis: 49.816
23. Kyle Sieg: 49.835
24. Parker Retzlaff: 49.858
25. Daniel Dye(i): 49.859
26. Natalie Decker(i): 49.867
27. Garrett Smithley: 49.979
28. Jeremy Clements: 49.981
29. Jeb Burton: 50.008
30. Patrick Staropoli: 50.097
31. Lavar Scott: 50.127
32. Joey Gase: 50.140
33. Brennan Poole: 50.206
34. Carson Ware: 50.243
35. Mason Maggio: 50.250
36. Blaine Perkins: 50.254
37. Josh Bilicki: 50.413
38. Andy Jankowiak: 51.302

Going home is Dawson Cram: 51.294