Indianapolis Xfinity starting lineup: AJ Allmendinger wins pole

A.J. Allmendinger has won the pole position for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In the final moments of Friday qualifying, Allmendinger posted a lap of 1 minute, 29.748 seconds to knock Riley Herbst (1:30.076) off the pole in the second round.

Ty Gibbs then followed with the second-fastest lap (1:29.842) to secure the outside front row position.

In addition to Saturday’s Xfinity race, Allmendinger will also run Sunday’s Cup race on the 14-turn IMS road course. He won the inaugural Cup race on the IMS road course last year after a chaotic finish that extended the race into double overtime.

“This is what I dreamed of with racing,” Allmendinger told NBC Sports about racing at Indy. “What we got to experience last year with Kaulig Racing can never be taken away from us.

“We know this is a new year and we’ve got to go out there and do it again, but I just love this place… We’re gonna go try to get something tomorrow.”

Herbst will share Row 2 with Cup Series regular Alex Bowman (1:30.210). Behind them in Row 3 will be Sam Mayer (1:30.407) and another Cup regular, Indiana native Chase Briscoe (1:30.614).

In all, six Cup regulars are in the field for Saturday. Here’s a rundown of where they qualified:

Four drivers failed to qualify: J.J. Yeley, Josh Williams, Brad Perez and Mason Filippi.

Coverage of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The race will also stream live on Peacock Premium.