The 300-mile race was originally rescheduled for 11 a.m. ET Monday, but with the Daytona 500 to follow and rain still in the area, NASCAR has made the decision to push Xfinity until after the Cup opener.
Although the rain is set to stop shortly, it will take several hours to dry the track. The Daytona 500, which is being run on a Monday for just the third time in its history, will take place around 4pm ET. The Xfinity race will follow at approx. 9pm ET.
Joey Logano and Michael McDowell will share the front row for the 66th running of the 500.
The final Cup Series practice of the week was canceled early Saturday morning. Denny Hamlin led Friday’s Daytona 500 practice, which was dominated by Toyota drivers. There were no incidents, but several drivers were shaking down backup cars after crashing during the Duel races.
Although final practice for the Daytona 500 never happened, NASCAR did manage to find a window on Saturday to complete one round of Xfinity Series qualifying.
Rookie Jesse Love won the pole with an average lap speed of 181.068 mph and his Richard Childress Racing teammate, Austin Hill, will start alongside him on the front row.
AJ Allmendinger will start third, Parker Kligerman fourth and Shane van Gisbergen will line up fifth.
Completing the top-10 starting lineup are Justin Allagier, Jeremy Clements, John Hunter Nemechek, Parker Retzlaff and Anthony Alfredo.
The following drivers failed to make the race: David Starr (time disallowed after failing post-qualifying inspection), Kyle Sieg, Caesar Bacarella, C.J. McLaughlin, Joey Gase, and Stanton Barrett.
Van Gisbergen, a the three-time Supercars champion, will be making his 2024 NASCAR series debut. He competed in Friday night’s ARCA Menards Series season opener, got caught up in a multi-car wreck on Lap 4 and finished 29th.
Gus Dean won the ARCA race for Venturini Motorsports, which ended under caution after a violent last-lap crash. Nick Sanchez won the NASCAR Truck Series race that preceded it, earning his first career Truck Series win. That race also ended under caution due to a massive pileup on the backstretch. Taylor Gray actually went up and over in a terrifying airborne crash. Thankfully, no one was injured.
In Friday’s lone Xfinity practice prior, Jeb Burton posted the fastest average lap speed and was followed by Sammy Smith, Sheldon Creed, Cole Custer and Ryan Truex.
Source : Motorsport.com