DAYTONA BEACH — Austin Hill appears to be on the verge of another Xfinity Series win at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.
However, his rookie teammate had other plans.
No, it wasn't a race, but Jesse Love turned the 49.702 lap, edging Hill by three-thousandths of a second to take the pole for Saturday night's United Rentals 300. He gave Richard Childress Racing a sweep on the front row.
Live updates:Daytona Xfinity Race 4:30, Jesse Love wins pole position; Daytona 500 practice
The two-hour qualifying session was moved from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm due to early rain and was also reduced from two rounds to one. The race's start time has also been moved up by a half-hour from 5 to 4:30 with weather threatening the area through Sunday night, also putting the Daytona 500 in jeopardy.
Rounding out the top five were AJ Allmendinger, Parker Kligerman and Shane van Gisbergen, the last of whom will have his first full-time season in NASCAR this year, driving for Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series. A three-time Supercars champion and winner of the inaugural Chicago Street Race last year, Van Gisbergen also competed in the ARCA Menards Series race on Friday night but was involved in an early crash.
Other notable drivers who qualified on Saturday included Daniel Suarez (18th), Hayley Deegan (28th) and Frankie Muniz (37th).
After taking qualifying times and provisional positions into account, Stanton Barrett, Kyle Sage, CJ McLaughlin, David Starr, Caesar Bacarella and Joey Gase were left out of the final lineup. Starr originally entered the field but failed post-qualifying inspection, allowing Dawson Cram to enter.
44 cars participated in qualifying, with 38 seats available.
Daytona Xfinity Series lineup for Saturday
- Jesse Love, No. 2 Chevrolet
- Austin Hill, No. 21 Chevrolet
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet
- Parker Kligerman, No. 48 Chevrolet
- Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 97 Chevrolet
- Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Chevrolet
- Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Chevrolet
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 20 Toyota
- Parker Retzlaff, No. 31 Chevrolet
- Anthony Alfredo, No. 5 Chevrolet
- Riley Herbst, No. 98 Ford
- Sammy Smith, No. 8 Chevrolet
- Patrick Emerling, No. 07 Chevrolet
- Sheldon Creed, No. 18 Toyota
- Sam Mayer, No. 1 Chevrolet
- Jeep Burton, No. 27 Chevrolet
- Cole Custer, No. 00 Ford
- Daniel Suarez, No. 14 Chevrolet
- Chandler Smith, No. 81 Toyota
- Ryan Truex, No. 19 Toyota
- Josh Williams, No. 11 Chevrolet
- Brandon Jones, No. 9 Chevrolet
- Garrett Smithley, No. 6 Chevrolet
- Leland Honeyman, No. 42 Chevrolet
- Kyle Weatherman, No. 91 Chevrolet
- Daniel Day, No. 10 Chevrolet
- Josh Bilicki, No. 92 Chevrolet
- Hayley Deegan, No. 15 Ford
- David Starr, No. 66 Chevrolet
- Jordan Anderson, No. 32 Chevrolet
- Natalie Decker, No. 36 Chevrolet
- Ryan Sage, No. 39 Ford
- Sage Karam No. 26 Toyota
- Brennan Paul, No. 44 Chevrolet
- Dawson Crum, No. 4 Chevrolet
- Ryan Ellis, No. 43 Chevrolet
- Frankie Muniz, No. 35 Ford
- BJ McLeod, No. 78 Chevrolet
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