Justin Haley ready to climb the NASCAR Cup ladder even higher in 2023

After a successful sophomore campaign, Justin Haley and Kaulig Racing are ready to continue their upward climb. Haley placed his Celsius 31 machine at the top of the speed charts in qualifying for Sunday's Busch Light Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum with a stellar run of 13.413 seconds (at 67.099 mph).

“It's obviously key," Haley said of his pole win. “We fired off last year and were pretty good and obviously had some trouble in the race and I felt like we were a pretty good car in practice there. I just feel like I wasn’t getting the full potential out of the race car.

"Then obviously in qualifying our lap was just dominant. So yeah, I'm pretty confident about where we are. It's obviously a good place to start the season.”

His success at The Clash does not come as a surprise after a strong showing in last year’s inaugural event before he tangled with Kyle Larson while racing for third position.

What is surprising, at least to the driver, was his fast qualifying speed. After practice Saturday, Haley felt comfortable in the car on the long runs and didn’t know how it would transition into single-lap speed.

"I felt like we were better on the long runs and I thought we were going to struggle in qualifying," Haley said, “I told AJ [Allmendinger] that I thought we were probably going to qualify around the 20s. Obviously, I was wrong.”

Drivers and teams prepared Saturday for a changing track as the sun went down over the LA skyline, the track heated up, and the external temperatures dropped, but Haley experienced it as a non-factor.

“I don’t think the track changed much, obviously it’s new asphalt and it has the oils in it and the grease but I don't feel like it was any different,” Haley rationalized, “My car is probably just so good that I couldn't tell.”

Does Haley know why he performs this well at The Coliseum? No.

“I don't know. I'm terrible at Martinsville, Haley explained “Martinsville might be my worst track. So I just feel like we've, we've been good. I mean, obviously, the car is a lot of it."

Does Haley know how his car is set up for this race and future races? No, by design.

“They do not let me know any details on setup," he said. "I couldn't tell you a single air pressure or a single spring and that comes from (crew chief) Chris Rice. He just wants me to drive the race car, I had no idea if I had four tires on the race car or three.”

As Haley continues to grow comfortable at the Cup level, Kaulig Racing takes the same journey. This year the team has two drivers suiting up full-time in Haley and teammate Allmendinger

“We're a young team,” Haley said, “(Team owner) Matt Kaulig is building this thing from the ground up and he didn't buy a race team that was already pre-built. You have to respect that about him.”

Haley and the Kaulig team will not settle for being small fish in the Cup pond. But it's moments like in the Clash where they build.

“We have to earn our name in the sport and I have to earn my name in the sport and I have to feel like I belong, which has been tough for me," Haley said. "It was a very humbling year last year, trying to figure out if I belong at the top or not. It’s been hard, but having moments like this obviously solidifies that a little bit more.”