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Starting Lineup: NASCAR Xfinity Explore the Pocono Mountains 250

Originally posted on Racing America on SI
By Toby Christie | Last updated Jun 21, 2025 12:14 PM ET

Chase Elliott, who was a late announcement for Hendrick Motorsports' NASCAR Xfinity Series program for this weekend's race at Pocono Raceway, rocketed to the pole position in qualifying for the Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 on Saturday at Pocono Raceway. The driver of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet turned a pole-winning lap time of 54.209 seconds (166.024 mph), which was enough to top Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brandon Jones for the pole.

Jones clocked in 0.161 seconds off of the fast time set by Elliott, and will lineup alongside the driver of the No. 17 Chevrolet on the front row of Saturday's race.

A pair of NASCAR Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year contenders, Nick Sanchez and William Sawalich, will start from the third and fourth positions, while Ryan Sieg, who enters this race just outside of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff cutline, will start fifth on Saturday afternoon.

Justin Allgaier, the fastest driver in Saturday morning's NASCAR Xfinity Series practice session, will start from the eighth position as he was foiled by rising track temperatures throughout the qualifying session. As he went out late in the session, he didn't get as favorable track conditions as some of the other fast cars at the 2.5-mile triangular speedway.

Connor Zilisch, likewise, was the next-to-last car to go out on the track in Saturday's qualifying session and was only able to muster the ninth-best qualifying speed. However, Zilisch has shown great speed so far this weekend and should be a contender for the race win with Dale Earnhardt Jr. serving as his crew chief in place of the suspended Mardy Lindley.

This will mark the first-ever time that Earnhardt has performed as a crew chief in the NASCAR National Series.

Here is the full official starting lineup for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway. Race 16 of 33.

# indicates Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points