Sam Mayer muscled his way to the pole position for The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 14.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a single-car, single-lap qualifying format. In this format, all 41 competitors vying for 38 starting spots cycled around Las Vegas Motor Speedway once. attemptibg to post the fastest lap. The competitor who posted the fastest single lap was awarded the pole position.
Mayer, who was the eighth-fastest competitor during Saturday’s lone practice session, clocked in a single pole-winning lap at 183.287 mph in 29.462 seconds. The lap was enough for the 22-year-old Mayer from Franklin, Wisconsin, to knock Kyle Larson off the top of the qualifying charts and remain atop the standings for the remainder of the session and for the pole position.
With the pole, Mayer achieved his fifth NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career pole for his 154th series’ start, his third driving for Haas Factory Team and his second of the 2026 season after he previously qualified in first place at Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway in late February. Currently, Mayer is ranked in ninth place in the 2026 driver’s standings as he attempts to achieve his first victory of this season for Saturday’s main event.
Mayer will share the front row with Kyle Larson, the latter of whom is making his first of three scheduled O’Reilly starts driving the No. 88 HendrickCars.com/JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro entry. Larson, who also won at Vegas in 2018, posted his single-qualifying lap at 182.902 mph in 29.524 seconds.
Sheldon Creed, Sammy Smith and Brandon Jones will start in the top five, respectively. Taylor Gray, Jesse Love, Rajah Caruth, Justin Allgaier (reigning Las Vegas spring winner) and Jeremy Clements (fastest in practice) complete the top-10 starting grid, respectively.
With 41 competitors vying for 38 starting spots, Myatt Snider, Chad Finchum and Dawson Cram were the trio who failed to qualify for the main event.
Las Vegas – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Sam Mayer, 183.287 mph, 29.462 seconds
- Kyle Larson, 182.902 mph, 29.524 seconds
- Sheldon Creed, 182.624 mph, 29.569 seconds
- Sammy Smith, 182.291 mph, 29.623 seconds
- Brandon Jones, 182.143 mph, 29.647 seconds
- Taylor Gray, 181.898 mph, 29.687 seconds
- Jesse Love, 181.708 mph, 29.718 seconds
- Rajah Caruth, 181.696 mph, 29.720 seconds
- Justin Allgaier, 181.372 mph, 29.773 seconds
- Jeremy Clements, 181.251 mph, 29.793 seconds
- Corey Day, 181.111 mph, 29.816 seconds
- Parker Retzlaff, 181.026 mph, 29.830 seconds
- Austin Hill, 180.566 mph, 29.906 seconds
- William Sawalich, 180.264 mph, 29.956 seconds
- Jeb Burton, 180.114 mph, 29.981 seconds
- Cole Custer, 180.036 mph, 29.994 seconds
- Connor Zilisch, 179.904 mph, 30.016 seconds
- Carson Kvapil, 179.874 mph, 30.021 seconds
- Austin Green, 179.742 mph, 30.043 seconds
- Ryan Sieg, 179.611 mph, 30.065 seconds
- Nick Sanchez, 179.599 mph, 30.067 seconds
- Patrick Staropoli, 179.503 mph, 30.083 seconds
- Chase Briscoe, 179.414 mph, 30.098 seconds
- Harrison Burton, 179.330 mph, 30.112 seconds
- Dean Thompson, 179.027 mph, 30.163 seconds
- Brennan Poole, 178.790 mph, 30.203 seconds
- Daniel Dye, 178.755 mph, 30.209 seconds
- Chandler Smith, 178.607 mph, 30.234 seconds
- Kyle Sieg, 177.983 mph, 30.340 seconds
- Lavar Scott, 177.573 mph, 30.410 seconds
- Anthony Alfredo, 177.107 mph, 30.490 seconds
- Josh Williams, 177.026 mph, 30.504 seconds
- Blaine Perkins, 176.736 mph, 30.554 seconds
- Nathan Byrd, 176.051 mph, 30.673 seconds
- Ryan Ellis, 175.188 mph, 30.824 seconds
- Joey Gase, 175.171 mph, 30.827 seconds
- Mason Maggio, 175.035 mph, 30.851 seconds
- Josh Bilicki, 173.896 mph, 31.053 seconds
The 2026 edition of The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Saturday, March 14, at 5:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN and SiriusXM.
