Jesse Love claimed the pole position for the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday, April 25.
The event’s starting lineup was determined in a single qualifying round. The second and final qualifying round was canceled due to inclement weather. Each of the entered competitors cycled their respective entries around the Talladega Superspeedway venue to post the fastest qualifying lap in a single-lap trial.
During the single qualifying trial, Jesse Love, the 2023 ARCA Menards Series champion and the reigning Xfinity Series’ Rookie-of-the-Year recipient from Menlo Park, California, posted a qualifying lap of 182.240 mph in 52.546 seconds in his No. 2 WAT/Richard Childress Racing (RCR) Chevrolet Camaro entry. Love’s lap was enough for him to claim the top-starting spot over his RCR teammate Austin Hill.
Love, who achieved his first Xfinity career victory during the spring Talladega event a year ago, notched his seventh career pole in the Xfinity Series division. The pole is his second in a row at Talladega, his second of the 2025 season and his seventh on a superspeedway venue.
The pole award was a redemptive moment for Jesse Love after his victory in last weekend’s event at Rockingham Speedway was stripped. His race-winning car failed the post-race inspection process for violating Rule 14.14.2.I-5.H from the NASCAR rule book. It states that the mating surfaces between the truck trailing arm and U-bolt saddle are in complete contact with each other.
RCR appealed the penalty, but it was denied this past Wednesday. Amid the disqualification from Rockingham, Love, who won the 2025 Xfinity opener at Daytona International Speedway in February and is guaranteed a spot in this year’s Playoffs, will pursue his second victory of the year for Saturday’s event at Talladega.
“[I’m] Looking forward to tomorrow,” Love said on the CW App. “Obviously, my car’s as fast as Xfinity Mobile. I think we got a really good shot at [the race win].
“I’ve never sat on the pole here at Talladega, so that’s really cool. [I] Just got to stay out front and when we do lose track position, [I’ll] keep a calm head and just kind of methodically make our way up and not make any little percentage moves that put us back a few rows.”
Austin Hill made it an RCR front-row sweep after he occupied the second-place starting spot with a qualifying lap of 181.591 mph in 52.734 seconds. Ironically, the 2025 Xfinity Series’ spring Talladega event marks the sixth time over the previous two seasons that RCR’s Love and Hill swept the front row for an upcoming superspeedway event.
Justin Allgaier, Joey Gase and Jeb Burton will start in the top five. Rrookie Taylor Gray, Josh Williams, rookie Daniel Dye, Ryan Ellis and Jeremy Clements completed the top-10 spots of the starting grid, respectively.
Notably, the following names that included Sheldon Creed, rookie Connor Zilisch, rookie Christian Eckes, Brandon Jones, Aric Almirola, rookie William Sawalich, rookie Carson Kvapil, rookie Nick Sanchez, Katherine Legge, Harrison Burton, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Parker Retzlaff, Sam Mayer, Ryan Sieg, Jeese Iwuji and Brennan Poole will start 11th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 20th, 23rd, 27th, 29th, 30th, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th and 37th, respectively. In addition, Sammy Smith, winner of last weekend’s event at Rockingham Speedway and the 2024 fall Talladega event, qualified 14th.
With 41 competitors vying for 38 starting spots, Garrett Smithley, Austin Green and Jake Garcia were the trio whom failed to qualify for the main event.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
1. Jesse Love, 182.240 mph, 52.546 seconds
2. Austin Hill, 181.591 mph, 52.734 seconds
3. Justin Allgaier, 180.946 mph, 52.922 seconds
4. Joey Gase, 180.891 mph, 52.938 seconds
5. Jeb Burton, 180.884 mph, 52.940 seconds
6. Taylor Gray, 180.853 mph, 52.949 seconds
7. Josh Williams, 180.771 mph, 52.973 seconds
8. Daniel Dye, 180.601 mph, 53.023 seconds
9. Ryan Ellis, 180.533 mph, 53.043 seconds
10. Jeremy Clements, 180.475 mph, 53.060 seconds
11. Sheldon Creed, 180.455 mph, 53.066 seconds
12. Matt DiBenedetto, 180.455 mph, 53.066 seconds
13. Connor Zilisch, 180.441 mph, 53.070 seconds
14. Sammy Smith, 180.332 mph, 53.102 seconds
15. Christian Eckes, 180.207 mph, 53.139 seconds
16. Brandon Jones, 180.112 mph, 53.167 seconds
17. Aric Almirola, 179.858 mph, 53.242 seconds
18. William Sawalich, 179.841 mph, 53.247 seconds
19. Anthony Alfredo, 179.807 mph, 53.257 seconds
20. Carson Kvapil, 179.804 mph, 53.258 seconds
21. Leland Honeyman, 179.777 mph, 53.266 seconds
22. Dean Thompson, 179.736 mph, 53.278 seconds
23. Nick Sanchez, 179.662 mph, 53.300 seconds
24. Kris Wright, 179.598 mph, 53.319 seconds
25. Greg Van Alst, 179.578 mph, 53.325 seconds
26. Kyle Sieg, 179.554 mph, 53.332 seconds
27. Katherine Legge, 179.541 mph, 53.336 seconds
28. Patrick Emerling, 179.501 mph, 53.348 seconds
29. Harrison Burton, 179.477 mph, 53.355 seconds
30. Jeffrey Earnhardt, 179.440 mph, 53.366 seconds
31. Blaine Perkins, 179.302 mph, 53.407 seconds
32. Mason Maggio, 179.292 mph, 53.410 seconds
33. Parker Retzlaff, Owner Points
34. Sam Mayer, Owner Points
35. Ryan Sieg, Owner Points
36. Jesse Iwuji, Owner Points
37. Brennan Poole, Owner Points
38. Caesar Bacarella, Owner Points
The 2025 Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway is set to occur on Saturday, April 26, and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network.
