Race Weekend Central

Brandon Jones Scores 5th Xfinity Pole of 2022 at Martinsville

Brandon Jones has been red-hot in qualifying throughout the NASCAR Xfinity Series season, and he continued his excellence in Friday’s (Oct. 28) qualifying session at Martinsville Speedway with a speed of 95.482 mph to earn his fifth pole of 2022.

Jones won at Martinsville in April and given that he will likely need a win to advance into the Championship 4, his must-win weekend at Martinsville is off to good start.

Sheldon Creed will start on the outside pole for Saturday’s NXS race while Sammy Smith will lead row 2 in third. Both Creed and Smith posted career best starting positions in Xfinity qualifying. Ty Gibbs had the fastest lap in practice and rounded out the Joe Gibbs Racing cars with a fourth-place effort in qualifying. Noah Gragson in fifth was the last driver to break the 20-second barrier in time trials.

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Gragson’s JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier clocked in sixth, while Anthony Alfredo, Riley Herbst, AJ Allmendinger and Jeremy Clements completed the top 10.

Josh Berry (13th) and Sam Mayer (22nd) were the two playoff drivers to qualify outside the top 10. Austin Hill did not post a qualifying lap as USA Network reported that the No. 21 had suffered radiator damage that afternoon.

Dawson Cram (No. 47), driving for Mike Harmon Racing, and Ronnie Bassett Jr. (No. 77), running for his family-owned team, were the two drivers who failed to qualify.

There was one incident in practice, as Daniel Hemric wheel hopped and backed his No. 11 car into the outside wall. He will have to go to a backup car for tomorrow’s race.

Dead On Tools 250 Starting Lineup

The Dead On Tools 250 will take place on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 3 p.m. ET with TV coverage provided by NBC.

About the author

Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch, and his weekly columns include “Stat Sheet” and “4 Burning Questions.” Stephen also writes commentary, contributes weekly to the “Bringing the Heat” podcast and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage. A native of Texas, Stephen began following NASCAR at age 9 after attending his first race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Follow on Twitter @stephen_stumpf.

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