HAMPTON, Ga. — Sam Mayer set the pace in both rounds of O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying and ultimately claimed the top spot for Saturday’s Bennett Transportation and Logistics 250 with a speed of 174.318 mph in his No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevy.
He outran Carson Kvapil for the pole. Kvapil will start second in his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevy after turning a lap at 173.875 mph.
In this race last year, Mayer was swept up in a crash, relegating him to a 36th-place finish. He experienced the same fate in last week’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season opener and looks to rebound this weekend at EchoPark Speedway in the Bennett 250.
“I feel like it’s going to be very good,” Sam Mayer said after winning the pole. “It’s my first speedway pole—it feels really good, very rewarding, everyone at Haas Factory Team did a great job. The pushes are a lot different with this [Chevy] nose, and it’s something I had to relearn last week at Daytona and it’s going to be even bigger here.”
Taylor Gray qualified third at 173.766 mph, followed closely by Sheldon Creed in his Haas Factory Team Chevy at 173.760 mph.
William Sawalich, Rajah Caruth and Gio Ruggiero rounded out positions five through seven for tomorrow’s race.
Defending winner of the Bennett Transportation and Logistics 250 and last week’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season-opening winner Austin Hill failed to advance into the top 10 qualifiers and will start tomorrow’s event in 20th place.
“We just missed it,” Hill said.” That is right in the hornets’ nest where a lot of bad things can go wrong. As long as we can get through the first handful of laps, I think we can make our way up through there and if we can get inside the top 10 pretty quick I’ll feel very strong about our chances.”