Qualifying report

NASCAR O'Reilly Homestead

Cole Custer takes Xfinity pole over Bell at Homestead

Two Championship 4 drivers will share the front row for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Nov 17, 2018, 6:44 PM

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Cole Custer, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Mustang Haas Automation

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry GameStop Transformers John Hunter Nemechek, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet Camaro Fire Alarm Services, Inc.

Cole Custer, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Mustang Haas Automation

Cole Custer, who won this race last year in a dominant showing, surged to pole with a 165.598mph lap in the final five minutes of qualifying. Title rival Christopher Bell will start alongside, missing the pole by just 0.050 seconds. For Custer, this is his sixth career pole, all coming this season.

The other two Championship 4 drivers, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Hemric, qualified fourth and tenth respectively.

John Hunter Nemechek was third, Austin Cindric fifth, Justin Allgaier sixth, Elliott Sadler seventh, Brandon Jones eighth, Matt Tifft ninth, Ryan Reed 11th and Ryan Preece 12th.

Rounds 1 and 2

During the first round of qualifying, Carl Long got up into the wall, but was able to continue. Landon Cassill, driving the No. 89 machine this weekend, was the last driver to advance through to Round 2.

Five drivers failed to qualify for the race: Josh Bilicki, Bayley Currey, Tim Viens, Josh Williams, and Stephen Leicht.

Matt Tifft was the last driver to make the cut in the second round, beating Chase Briscoe by 0.024 seconds. Michael Annett, Ryan Truex, Jeremy Clements, Spencer Gallagher, Kaz Grala, Ryan Sieg, Alex Labbe, Shane Lee, Max Tullman, Ross Chastain and Cassill also failed to advance.

Cla # Driver 4506 Time Gap Mph 1 00 United States Cole Custer Ford 32.609 165.598 2 20 Christopher Bell Toyota 32.659 0.050 165.345 3 42 John Hunter Nemechek Chevrolet 32.776 0.167 164.755 4 9 Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 32.820 0.211 164.534 5 22 Austin Cindric Ford 32.918 0.309 164.044 6 7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 32.927 0.318 163.999 7 1 United States Elliott Sadler Chevrolet 32.989 0.380 163.691 8 19 Brandon Jones Toyota 33.023 0.414 163.522 9 2 Matt Tifft Chevrolet 33.083 0.474 163.226 10 21 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 33.094 0.485 163.172 11 16 Ryan Reed Ford 33.102 0.493 163.132 12 18 Ryan Preece Toyota 33.183 0.574 162.734 13 60 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 33.213 0.604 162.587 14 5 Michael Annett Chevrolet 33.275 0.666 162.284 15 11 Ryan Truex Chevrolet 33.317 0.708 162.079 16 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 33.339 0.730 161.972 17 23 Spencer Gallagher Chevrolet 33.430 0.821 161.532 18 61 Kaz Grala Ford 33.454 0.845 161.416 19 38 United States Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 33.478 0.869 161.300 20 36 Canada Alex Labbé Chevrolet 33.531 0.922 161.045 21 3 Shane Lee Chevrolet 33.533 0.924 161.035 22 26 Max Tullman Ford 33.703 1.094 160.223 23 4 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 33.375 0.766 161.798 24 89 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 33.784 1.175 159.839 25 66 United States Chad Finchum Toyota 33.808 1.199 159.726 26 35 Joey Gase Chevrolet 33.867 1.258 159.447 27 86 Brandon Brown Chevrolet 33.960 1.351 159.011 28 93 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 34.005 1.396 158.800 29 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 34.236 1.627 157.729 30 8 Tommy Joe Martins Chevrolet 34.269 1.660 157.577 31 13 United States Timmy Hill Toyota 34.294 1.685 157.462 32 01 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 34.303 1.694 157.421 33 90 Caesar Bacarella Chevrolet 34.376 1.767 157.086 34 52 David Starr Chevrolet 34.506 1.897 156.495 35 15 Quin Houff Chevrolet 34.623 2.014 155.966 36 76 Spencer Boyd Chevrolet 34.820 2.211 155.083 37 78 United States Vinnie Miller Chevrolet 35.075 2.466 153.956 38 40 Carl Long Dodge 36.592 3.983 147.573 39 39 Angela Ruch Chevrolet 36.817 4.208 146.671 40 37 Jeff Green Chevrolet 34.950 2.341 154.506

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