XFINITY: Mother Nature Hands Justin Allgaier Daytona Pole

Originally posted on Racing America on SI
By Toby Christie | Last updated Feb 15, 2025 11:47 AM ET

Taylor Kitchen | Racing America

It's been quite a week for Justin Allgaier, who is pulling double duty for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series at Daytona International Speedway. Allgaier, who worked his way into the Daytona 500 field through the Duel Qualifiers on Thursday, will start Saturday night's NASCAR Xfinity Series United Rentals 300 from the pole after Mother Nature washed out qualifying after several cars had already taken to the track.

While it won't go on Allgaier's career stats record as an official pole position, the defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion will still reap the benefits of the best possible track position to kick off Saturday's event.

Alongside Allgaier on the front row will be Rookie of the Year contender Taylor Gray, who is piloting the No 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra.

Another Rookie of the Year contender, Christian Eckes, will start from the inside of Row 2 in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, and he'll be joined by Austin Hill, arguably the best superspeedway racer in the series, the driver of the No. 21 Richrd Childress Racing Chevrolet.

William Sawalich (Rookie), Sheldon Creed, Brandon Jones, Sam Mayer, Jesse Love, and Carson Kvapil (Rookie) will make up the remainder of the top-10 of the starting grid for the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway.

Unfortunately, due to the wash out of qualifying, Carson Ware, CJ McLaughlin, and JJ Yeley, who all had turned a lap in the qualifying session before the rain hit the track, were not allowed to see the full session play out to see whether they would lock their spots into the field for Saturday's race.

2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series owner standings were used to finalize the starting lineup for this race, the opening event of the 2025 season. Due to the No. 74 Mike Harmon Racing, No. 92 DGM Racing Jesse Iwuji Motorsports, No. 29 RSS Racing teams being the lowest three in the rankings, they will not race on Saturday afternoon.

If weather doesn't impact the scheduled start time of Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series event, the United Rentals 300 is slated to begin at 5:00 PM ET. The race will have television coverage from The CW.