Love Scores Talladega Pole Three-Peat; United Rentals 250 Lineup

Jesse Love, a NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff contender, took the pole position for Saturday's United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway. The driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet turned a fast lap time of 52.605 seconds (182.036 mph), which allowed him to snag his third consecutive pole position at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.

The 20-year-old driver won the pole in a weather-shortened qualifying session at Talladega earlier this season.

Love, the last car to go on track in the final round of qualifying, topped rookie contender William Sawalich by 0.097 seconds for the top starting spot.

Christian Eckes was the third-fastest qualifier in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, and he will be joined in Row 2 by fellow rookie contender Carson Kvapil, who, like Love, is a Playoff contender.

Austin Hill, Jeb Burton, Connor Zilisch (Playoff contender), Justin Allgaier (Playoff contender), Aric Almirola, and Brandon Jones (Playoff contender) rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

While it was a relatively strong qualifying session for the eight NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff drivers and the two additional cars in the NASCAR Xfinity Series owner's championship hunt, there were three Playoff contenders, who will start from the outside of the top-10 on Saturday afternoon.

Sammy Smith was the first Playoff driver on the outside looking in with an 11th-place qualifying run. The Haas Factory Team duo of Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed also qualified sub-top-10 in 13th and 16th.

Taylor Gray, who was eliminated from the Playoffs at the Charlotte Roval, had his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota lose power during his qualifying run. He took his car to the garage, and was unable to record a lap time. As a result, the rookie contender will start from the final starting spot in the 38-car field.

Official starting lineup for the NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 250 at Talladega Superspeedway (Race 31 of 33):

(P) indicates NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Driver
* indicates NASCAR Xfinity Series Owner Playoff Car
# indicates Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points