Qualifying report

NASCAR Cup Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum

Haley tops qualifying, heat race lineup set for Clash

Justin Haley led the way in the Busch Light Clash qualifying session to secure a pole in one of four heat races prior to Sunday’s main event.

Jim Utter

Edited: Feb 6, 2023, 12:04 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Haley, the 15th of 35 cars to make a qualifying attempt, topped the session with an average lap speed of 67.099 mph.

Of the 35 cars that attempted to qualify, 16 went faster than Kyle Busch, who was the fastest qualifier in 2022 (65.478 mph).

Busch ended up second-fastest Saturday (66.406 mph). Christopher Bell was third (66.328 mph) and William Byron ended up fourth (66.196 mph).

The top four qualifiers will each start on pole for one of four 25-lap heat races. The 150-lap main event begins at 8 p.m. ET Sunday.

Rounding out the top-10 speeds were Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, A.J. Allmendinger, Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson.

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Shell Pennzoil Ford, Justin Haley, Kaulig Racing, Celsius Chevrolet

Photo by: David Rosenblum / NKP / Motorsport Images

Ty Gibbs, who had a fire erupt in the cockpit of his No. 54 Toyota in practice, was not allowed to qualify for making unapproved adjustments during the course of repairing the car.

Gibbs will have to race his way into the 27-car field on Sunday through the heat races.

Ryan Blaney’s speed was disallowed after he missed Turn 4 on his first lap, backed up and tried to re-run the lap.

Heat 1 Lineup Heat 2 Lineup Heat 3 Lineup Heat 4 Lineup 1. Justin Haley

1. Kyle Busch

1. Christopher Bell 1. William Byron 2. Aric Almirola 2. Austin Dillon 2. Denny Hamlin 2. AJ Allmendinger 3. Alex Bowman 3. Kyle Larson 3. Daniel Suarez 3. Ross Chastain 4. Harrison Burton 4. Kevin Harvick 4. Chase Briscoe 4. Bubba Wallace 5. Joey Logano 5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 5. Tyler Reddick 5. Erik Jones 6. Noah Gragson 6. Martin Truex Jr. 6. Brad Keselowski 6. Ryan Preece 7. Michael McDowell 7. Austin Cindric 7. Todd Gilliland 7. Corey LaJoie 8. Chris Buescher 8. Chase Elliott 8. JJ Yeley 8. Cody Ware 9. Ty Dillon 9. BJ McLeod 9. Ryan Blaney 9. Ty Gibbs

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Martin Truex Jr. fastest in hectic Clash practice in Los Angeles

Next article Justin Haley: "I have to feel like I belong" in Cup Series

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Jorge Martin passed fit to practice at Qatar Grand Prix

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

58 min

Jorge Martin passed fit to practice at Qatar Grand Prix

Pedro Acosta signs Monster as personal sponsor

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

1 h

Pedro Acosta signs Monster as personal sponsor

How young can a Formula 1 world champion actually be?

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 1 h

How young can a Formula 1 world champion actually be?

Sebastien Ogier tipped for partial WRC 2027 programme

WRC

WRC WRC 3 h

Sebastien Ogier tipped for partial WRC 2027 programme

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts