Brent Crews picked up his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career pole position for the inaugural United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 at San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California, on Saturday, June 20.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a group qualifying session. The field of 37 competitors was split into two qualifying groups. Each group was allotted 20 minutes to post the fastest lap. The competitor who posted the fastest lap between the groups would be awarded the pole position.
Crews, who was the second-fastest competitor during Friday’s practice session, qualified in the second group. He posted his fastest lap at 91.143 mph in 134.294 seconds, which was enough for the 18-year-old native of Hickory, North Carolina, to claim the top-starting spot for Saturday’s inaugural street course event around San Diego’s Naval Air Station North Island.
With the pole, Crews became the 218th competitor overall to win a pole position in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division and the 37th to do so driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also joins Corey Day as a first-time pole winner of the 2026 O’Reilly season. Crews, who missed four of the first six events this season due to age restrictions, is coming off back-to-back runner-up results at Nashville Superspeedway and Pocono Raceway, respectively. With a total of six top-five results and nine top-10 results through 13 starts, Crews is three points above the top-12 cutline to make this year’s Chase as he also continues the pursuit of his first O’Reilly race victory in his rookie campaign.
Crews will share the front row with Parker Retzlaff, the latter of whom achieved his first front row starting spot of the 2026 season and his first driving for Viking Motorsports. Retzlaff’s lap was at 91.033 mph in 134.456 seconds.
Anthony Alfredo, Austin Hill and Carson Kvapil will start in the top five, respectively. Sam Mayer, Sheldon Creed, Austin Green, William Sawalich and Sammy Smith complete the top-10 starting lineup, respectively. Green was the fastest competitor during Friday’s practice session and the fastest qualifier from the first group on Saturday.
Notables that include Taylor Gray, points leader Justin Allgaier, Rajah Caruth and Corey Day will start 11th, 16th, 21st and 31st, respectively. Also of note, Jeremy Clements will surpass Kenny Wallace for the most starts in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division all time at 548, will start 27th.
Lastly, Jesse Love was the lone competitor who was not allowed to post a qualifying lap due to lug nuts found on his entry that did not meet minimum size specifications during the event’s pre-race technical procedure. As a result, Love, who will start at the tail end of the field in 37th place, will serve a drive-through penalty after taking the green flag at San Diego on Saturday and lose pit selection for next weekend’s event at Sonoma Raceway.
With 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots, all made the main event.
San Diego – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Brent Crews, 91,143 mph, 134.294 seconds
- Parker Retzlaff, 91.033 mph, 134.456 seconds
- Anthony Alfredo, 90.981 mph, 134.533 seconds
- Austin Hill, 90.967 mph, 134.555 seconds
- Carson Kvapil, 90.916 mph, 134.630 seconds
- Sam Mayer, 90.815 mph, 134.779 seconds
- Sheldon Creed, 90.661 mph, 135.009 seconds
- Austin Green, 90.587 mph, 135.118 seconds
- William Sawalich, 90.322 mph, 135.515 seconds
- Sammy Smith, 90.233 mph, 135.649 seconds
- Taylor Gray, 90.179 ph, 135.730 seconds
- Alex Labbe, 89.657 mph, 136.520 seconds
- Preston Pardus, 89.643 mph, 136.541 seconds
- Lavar Scott, 89.451 mph, 136.834 seconds
- Harrison Burton, 89.363 mph, 136.969 seconds
- Justin Allgaier, 89.325 mph, 137.027 seconds
- Josh Bilicki, 89.210 mph, 137.205 seconds
- Brennan Poole, 89.093 mph, 137.384 seconds
- Ryan Ellis, 88.955 mph, 137.597 seconds
- Blaine Perkins, 88.937 mph, 137.626 seconds
- Rajah Caruth, 88.813 mph, 137.817 seconds
- Jeb Burton, 88.664 mph, 138.050 seconds
- Dean Thompson, 88.391 mph, 138.476 seconds
- Ryan Sieg, 88.361 mph, 138.523 seconds
- Leland Honeyman Jr., 88.259 mph, 138.683 seconds
- Brad Perez, 88.052 mph, 139.008 seconds
- Jeremy Clements, 87.992 mph, 139.104 seconds
- Patrick Staropoli, 87.741 mph, 139.502 seconds
- Kyle Sieg, 87.729 mph, 139.520 seconds
- Andrew Patterson, 87.720 mph, 139.535 seconds
- Corey Day, 87.379 mph, 140.080 seconds
- Baltazar Leguizamon, 86.617 mph, 141.311 seconds
- Brandon Jones, 85.983 mph, 142.354 seconds
- Dawson Cram, 84.434 mph, 144.965 seconds
- Jesse Iwuji, 83.933 mph, 145.831 seconds
- Joey Gase, 83.628 mph, 146.363 seconds
- Jesse Love, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
The inaugural United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 at San Diego’s Naval Base Coronado is scheduled to occur on Saturday, June 20, at 5 p.m. ET on the CW Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM.
