Sammy Smith sped his way to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series pole position of the 2025 season for The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, March 14.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a standard practice and qualifying procedure. The field was split into two 25-minute practice sessions. Next, the field joined forces to participate in one single-lap qualifying session (impound). The groups and qualifying order were determined by metrics that included 70% based on previous race finish by owner and 30% based on owner points standings, with the best-scoring competitors placed in the second group.
Xfinity Series Pole Winner
Smith was the third-fastest competitor during the practice session on Friday. He followed it up with a pole-winning lap at 183.455 mph in 29.435 seconds during qualifying in his No. 8 Pilot/JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro entry, claiming the top-starting spot. He bested his teammate, Carson Kvapil, by 0.067 seconds.
The two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion and two-time Xfinity Series race winner from Johnston, Iowa, notched his third career pole in the division and his first since November 2023 at Martinsville Speedway. Smith, who is in his second full-time season in the series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet entry for JR Motorsports, is currently ranked in fifth place in the driver’s standings as he strives to contend for his first victory of the year for Saturday’s main event in Sin City.
“Hats off to all these Pilot guys,” Smith said on the CW Network. “[Crew chief] Philip [Belt] and all the [No. 8] guys did a really good job. We’ve really tried to focus on qualifying these last couple of races just to try to help our starting position. The goal tomorrow, he continued, “is to keep [the car] out front and hopefully, we can finish here.”
Smith will share the front row with Carson Kvapil, the latter of whom posted his best qualifying lap at 183.038 mph in 29.502 seconds. Although he was one position shy of claiming his first Xfinity pole, Kvapil achieved his first front-row starting spot for an Xfinity event and emerged as the highest-starting Xfinity rookie for the main event.
Qualifying
Rookie Connor Zilisch, who is also a JR Motorsports teammate to Sammy Smith and Carson Kvapil, will start in third place with a qualifying lap at 182.655 mph in 29.564 seconds. Earlier, Zilisch was the fastest competitor during the event’s practice session. Rookie Taylor Gray and Sam Mayer will start in the top five, respectively.
Justin Allgaier, the reigning Xfinity Series champion and a JR Motorsports teammate to Smith, Kvapil and Zilisch, will start in sixth place. Jesse Love, rookie William Sawalich, rookie Nick Sanchez and Jeb Burton completed the top-10 starting spots.
Aric Almirola, the winner of last weekend’s Xfinity event at Phoenix Raceway, will line up in 11th place and share the sixth row with Parker Retzlaff.
In addition, the following names that included Jeremy Clements, Austin Hill, Brandon Jones, rookie Christian Eckes, Harrison Burton, Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Sieg, Anthony Alfredo, Sheldon Creed, Josh Williams, rookie Dean Thompson and Austin Green will start 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 28th and 36th, respectively.
Starting Lineup
With 38 competitors vying for 38 starting spots, all of the entered competitors made the main event.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
1. Sammy Smith, 183.455 mph, 29.435 seconds
2. Carson Kvapil, 183.038 mph, 29.502 seconds
3. Connor Zilisch, 182.655 mph, 29.564 seconds
4. Taylor Gray, 182.482 mph, 29.592 seconds
5. Sam Mayer, 182.223 mph, 29.634 seconds
6. Justin Allgaier, 182.174 mph, 29.642 seconds
7. Jesse Love, 182.156 mph, 29.645 seconds
8. William Sawalich, 182.014 mph, 29.668 seconds
9. Nick Sanchez, 181.977 mph, 29.674 seconds
10. Jeb Burton, 181.892 mph, 29.688 seconds
11. Aric Almirola, 181.892 mph, 29.688 seconds
12. Parker Retzlaff, 181.671 mph, 29.724 seconds
13. Jeremy Clements, 181.165 mph, 29.807 seconds
14. Austin Hill, 181.074 mph, 29.822 seconds
15. Brandon Jones, 181.008 mph, 29.833 seconds
16. Daniel Dye, 179.623 mph, 30.063 seconds
17. Christian Eckes, 179.551 mph, 30.075 seconds
18. Harrison Burton, 179.438 mph, 30.094 seconds
19. Matt DiBenedetto, 179.206 mph, 30.133 seconds
20. Ryan Sieg, 178.802 mph, 30.201 seconds
21. Kyle Sieg, 178.436 mph, 30.263 seconds
22. Anthony Alfredo, 178.394 mph, 30.270 seconds
23. Sheldon Creed, 178.159 mph, 30.310 seconds
24. Josh Williams, 177.842 mph, 30.364 seconds
25. Patrick Emerling, 177.561 mph, 30.412 seconds
26. Kris Wright, 177.421 mph, 30.436 seconds
27. Blaine Perkins, 176.927 mph, 30.521 seconds
28. Dean Thompson, 176.603 mph, 30.577 seconds
29. Leland Honeyman, 176.557 mph, 30.585 seconds
30. Brennan Poole, 175.901 mph. 30.699 seconds
31. Mason Massey, 174.667 mph, 30.916 seconds
32. Dawson Cram, 173.527 mph, 31.119 seconds
33. Garrett Smithley, 173.171 mph, 31.183 seconds
34. Josh Bilicki, 173.088 mph, 31.198 seconds
35. Ryan Ellis, 172.590 mph, 31.288 seconds
36. Austin Green, 172.155 mph, 31.367 seconds
37. Joey Gase, 170.111 mph, 31.744 seconds
38. Greg Van Alst, 168.161 mph, 32.112 seconds
The 2025 The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is set to occur on Saturday, March 15, and air at 4:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network.
