Kyle Busch drove the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the top of the speed chart during qualifying for the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum Saturday night. His lap time of 13.745 seconds gained him the advantage of starting on the pole for the first heat race Sunday afternoon.
“I never would have thunk it,” Busch said. “I don’t know, you know, it’s pretty cool. It’s just different with the opportunity to do something like this … we’re having a great time. We had a bunch of fans come out just to witness the qualifying.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what this place will look like (Sunday) and have the opportunity to race this No. 18 Toyota and keep it up front. We’re not in (the main event) yet—we still have to go through that heat race.”
Tyler Reddick was second fastest and will start first in Heat 2. Justin Haley, third-fastest, will pace the field in Heat 3 and Joey Logano, who had the fourth-fastest qualifying time, will lead Heat 4.
There will be 10 drivers in each of the four 25-lap heat races and the top four finishers in each heat race (16 drivers) will automatically advance to the main event.
Following the heat races, there will be one final opportunity to qualify for entry into the Clash with two Last Chance Qualifiers comprised of 50 laps each. The top three finishers in each LCQ race (6 drivers) will advance to the Busch Light Clash.
The last position (23rd) in the Clash will go to the driver who finished the highest in the 2021 points standings but did not earn a spot in the heat races or the Last Chance Qualifiers.
The Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum is set for Sunday at 6 p.m. ET and will be comprised of 150 laps. The event will be televised on FOX with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
