Tagliani Captures Road America Pole

Alex Tagliani wins the pole for Saturday’s Road America 180. He outlast Michael McDowell in the final round. This is his eighth start in NASCAR Xfinity competition. This is Tagliani’s fourth career pole. However, he is looking for his first career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

 

The first round of qualifying was eventful due to a couple cars going off the course. Alon Day had trouble and ended up in the gravel trap off of Canada Corner after flat spotting his tired going into the fifth turn. The session was stopped to help get Day out of the gravel trap. Owen Kelly set a new track record in qualifying with a speed of 109.604 mph. However, Kelly’s track record did not last long as Tagliani and McDowell were the only two to top that record in the first round. McDowell will hold the new record. Josh Bilicki also wrecked in the opening session bringing out the red flag after hitting the tire barriers after going into the first turn way too fast. McDowell was fastest in this round with a speed of 110.37 mph, Tagliani was second at a speed of 110.043, Kelly was third at a speed of 109.604 mph, Ryan Reed was fourth at a speed of 109.407 mph, and Justin Marks rounded out the top-five with a speed of 109.407 mph. No drivers will go home. Some notable drivers who did not advance to the second round were Darrell Wallace Jr who qualified 13th and Elliott Sadler who qualified 14th. 

 

As the second round began, majority of the drivers jumped on the speedway, except Erik Jones, who waited to hit the track to cool down his engine and tires because of a late run in the first round. Tagliani won the pole with a speed of 109.866 mph, McDowell qualified second with a speed of 109.591 mph, Marks qualified third at a speed of 109.196 mph, Kelly will start fourth with a  speed of 109.129 mph, and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top five with a speed of 108.644 mph. 

 

The Road America 180 Fired Up by Johnsonville will begin at 3PM EST on NBCSN and Motor Racing Network. Pre-race show for NBCSN and Motor Racing Network will begin at 2:30PM EST.

Caleb Whisler
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