Corey Day claimed the pole position for the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday, October 3.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through an on-track qualifying session that consisted of a single-car, single-lap qualifying format. During the session, each of the 36 competitors vying for 36 starting spots cycled around Las Vegas once to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the fastest lap was awarded the pole position.
During the session, Day, who was the 11th-fastest competitor in practice earlier on Saturday, utilized his one-lap qualifying session to clock in a lap at 180.856 mph in 29.858 seconds. Day’s lap was enough for the 20-year-old native of Clovis, California, to notch the second pole position of his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career and of the 2026 season.
Day, driver of the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry for Hendrick Motorsports, is currently ranked in sixth place in the 2026 Chase standings and has achieved two top-five results through the first three Chase events. He also trails the points lead by 92 points and has six Chase events remaining, including this weekend’s event at Las Vegas, to reel in on the points lead and contend for his first championship.
Day will share the front row with Sheldon Creed, the latter of whom is currently leading this year’s Chase standings and has won two of the first three Chase events this year, including the series’ recent event at Bristol Motor Speedway two weeks ago. Creed, who is set to depart Haas Factory Team and join Sam Hunt Racing in 2027, clocked in the second-fastest lap at 180.741 mph in 29.877 seconds.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones, Brent Crews and Taylor Gray will start in the top five, respectively. Rajah Caruth, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Carson Kvapil and Jesse Love completed the top-10 starting grid, respectively.
Overall, nine of 12 Chase contenders (Day, Creed, Jones, Gray, Caruth, Allgaier, Mayer, Kvapil and Love) will start in the top 10 for Saturday night’s event at Las Vegas. The remaining Chase contenders that include Austin Hill, Parker Retzlaff and Sammy Smith will start 12th, 17th and 23rd, respectively.
Notably, William Sawalich was the lone competitor who did not post a qualifying lap due to a mechanical issue. Sawalich will round out the 36-car starting grid in 36th place.
With 36 competitors vying for 36 starting spots, all made the main event.
Las Vegas – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Corey Day, 180.856 mph, 29.858 seconds
- Sheldon Creed, 180.741 mph, 29.877 seconds
- Brandon Jones, 180.493 mph, 29.918 seconds
- Brent Crews, 180.397 mph, 29.934 seconds
- Taylor Gray, 180.084 mph, 29.986 seconds
- Rajah Caruth, 179.874 mph, 30.021 seconds
- Justin Allgaier, 179.736 mph, 30.044 seconds
- Sam Mayer, 179.730 mph, 30.045 seconds
- Carson Kvapil, 178.024 mph, 30.333 seconds
- Jesse Love, 177.713 mph, 30.386 seconds
- Harrison Burton, 177.480 mph, 30.426 seconds
- Austin Hill, 177.462 mph, 30.429 seconds
- Patrick Staropoli, 176.875 mph, 30.530 seconds
- Jeb Burton, 176.846 mph, 30.535 seconds
- Andrew Patterson, 176.355 mph, 30.620 seconds
- Brennan Poole, 176.350 mph, 30.621 seconds
- Parker Retzlaff, 176.309 mph, 30.628 seconds
- Anthony Alfredo, 176.160 mph, 30.654 seconds
- Kyle Sieg, 176.097 mph, 30.665 seconds
- Ryan sieg, 175.713 mph, 30.732 seconds
- Jeremy Clements, 175.667 mph, 30.740 seconds
- Dean Thompson, 175.069 mph, 30.845 seconds
- Sammy Smith, 175.058 mph, 30.847 seconds
- Blaine Perkins, 175.052 mph, 30.848 seconds
- Matt DiBenedetto, 174.695 mph, 30.911 seconds
- Lee Pulliam, 174.098 mph, 31.017 seconds
- Mason Maggio, 173.310 mph, 31.158 seconds
- Josh Williams, 171.478 mph, 31.491 seconds
- Ryan Ellis, 171.233 mph, 31.536 seconds
- Lavar Scott, 170.794 mph, 31.617 seconds
- Garrett Smithley, 170.573 mph, 31.658 seconds
- Blake Lothian, 170.234 mph, 31.721 seconds
- Joey Gase, 169.035 mph, 31.946 seconds
- Josh Bilicki, 168.093 mph, 32.125 seconds
- Dawson Cram, 165.548 mph, 32.619 seconds
- William Sawalich, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
The 2026 Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Saturday, October 3, at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.
