Taylor Gray capitalized in his qualification session early on Saturday by claiming the pole for the 2025 Bet Rivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)
DOVER, Del. — One of Taylor Gray’s perks since joining the NASCAR Xfinity Series is the ability to put on a show in qualifying, as he scored his third pole of the season for Saturday’s Bet Rivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway.
Gray rocketed around the 1.0-mile concrete beast of an oval with a time of 23.578, equivalent to a speed of 152.685 mph, as he will start alongside EchoPark Speedway winner Nick Sanchez for the 200-lap showdown.
“I’m super proud of all my guys for getting us to this result,” Gray told The CW following Saturday afternoon’s qualification session. “I think just unloading off the truck, we missed some [shock] travel stuff a little bit, and were hard on the splitter. But we worked throughout practice to make our car better.”
“The track is going to change a lot for the race, even from right now,” Gray stated. “You saw in practice that it took so much rubber and got so much darker in color, so it’s going to shift the balance of our cars a bit and we’re going to have to stay on top of the [groove] migration and things like that to be in contention at the end.”
Gray previously earned pole awards this season at both Homestead-Miami and Charlotte, finishing both 23rd and 30th, respectively, from the top starting spot, and looks to rewrite the story at “The Monster Mile.”
Taylor Gray rocketed around Dover Motor Speedway with speed and precision around the 1.0-mile concrete oval. (Photo Credit: Declan Wayman | The Podium Finish)
Gray looks to capitalize on a rebound race at Dover, after previously finishing 34th in his lone Xfinity Series start last April after falling victim to a late race crash. Gray also finds himself in the midst of pushing his way into the Xfinity Series playoffs, as he finds himself with a 22-point advantage in the 11th spot over the bubble battle between both of the Burton relatives.
2024 ARCA East winner at this facility, Connor Zilisch, qualified in the third spot in his No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro. The rest of the top 5 followed with Brandon Jones and Ross Chastain.
Aric Almirola, Justin Allgaier, William Sawalich, Harrison Burton, and Jeb Burton rounded out the top 10 quickest cars on the Dover Motor Speedway property.
Ryan Truex aims at going for his third consecutive Dover victory from the 32nd starting spot, but this time it won’t be with Joe Gibbs Racing, as he takes on his home track behind the wheel of the No. 24 Toyota for Sam Hunt Racing.
Rajah Caruth will make his first Xfinity Series start since the 2023 season finale at Phoenix at one of his home tracks, as he will start in the 16th spot for Jordan Anderson Racing.
A pair of ARCA drivers making their debut, as well as running the second leg of the doubleheader weekend in conjunction with Friday’s ARCA Menards Series event, including Jake Finch and Lavar Scott, who will start 21st and 22nd, respectively.
From left to right: Lavar Scott, Justin Allgaier, and Rajah Caruth discussing their ambitions before climbing in for Saturday afternoon’s practice and qualifying sessions. (Photo Credit: Declan Wayman | The Podium Finish)
After the announcement of Our Motorsports closing their doors following this weekend’s event at Dover, a place that has granted them success as they claimed the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus last season with Anthony Alfredo, will have Kaz Grala pilot the No. 5 Chevrolet one last time from the 37th starting spot.
Two cars missed the show: both were Joey Gase Motorsports entries, Glen Reen and David Starr.
The Bet Rivers 200 at Dover Motor Speedway will air live on Saturday, July 19 at 4:30 P.M. ET on The CW, with radio coverage provided by The Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
Bet Rivers 200 Dover Motor Speedway NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying Results
| Result | Car No. | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | 54 | Taylor Gray | Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 23.578 |
| 2 | 48 | Nick Sanchez | Big Machine Racing Chevrolet | 23.673 |
| 3 | 88 | Connor Zilisch | JR Motorsports Chevrolet | 23.753 |
| 4 | 20 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 23.766 |
| 5 | 9 | Ross Chastain | JR Motorsports Chevrolet | 23.787 |
| 6 | 19 | Aric Almirola | Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 23.794 |
| 7 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports Chevrolet | 23.835 |
| 8 | 18 | William Sawalich | Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | 23.841 |
| 9 | 25 | Harrison Burton | AM Racing Ford | 23.884 |
| 10 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet | 23.889 |
| 11 | 00 | Sheldon Creed | Haas Factory Team Ford | 23.916 |
| 12 | 2 | Jesse Love | Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | 23.927 |
| 13 | 41 | Sam Mayer | Haas Factory Team Ford | 23.948 |
| 14 | 1 | Carson Kvapil | JR Motorsports Chevrolet | 23.949 |
| 15 | 21 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | 23.956 |
| 16 | 32 | Rajah Caruth | Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet | 24.000 |
| 17 | 8 | Sammy Smith | JR Motorsports Chevrolet | 24.024 |
| 18 | 99 | Matt DiBenedetto | Viking Motorsports Chevrolet | 24.024 |
| 19 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing Ford | 24.135 |
| 20 | 26 | Dean Thompson | Sam Hunt Racing Toyota | 24.135 |
| 21 | 17 | Jake Finch | Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | 24.140 |
| 22 | 45 | Lavar Scott | Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet | 24.192 |
| 23 | 44 | Brennan Poole | Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet | 24.205 |
| 24 | 31 | Blaine Perkins | Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet | 24.206 |
| 25 | 70 | Leland Honeyman | Cope Family Racing Chevrolet | 24.221 |
| 26 | 42 | Anthony Alfredo | Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet | 24.227 |
| 27 | 4 | Parker Retzlaff | Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet | 24.235 |
| 28 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet | 24.249 |
| 29 | 11 | Josh Williams | Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 24.309 |
| 30 | 10 | Daniel Dye | Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 24.374 |
| 31 | 16 | Christian Eckes | Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | 24.438 |
| 32 | 24 | Ryan Truex | Sam Hunt Racing Toyota | 24.441 |
| 33 | 91 | Josh Bilicki | DGM x JIM Racing Chevrolet | 24.516 |
| 34 | 71 | Ryan Ellis | DGM X JIM Racing Chevrolet | 24.531 |
| 35 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | RSS Racing Ford | 24.653 |
| 36 | 5 | Kaz Grala | Our Motorsports Chevrolet | 24.721 |
| 37 | 14 | Garrett Smithley | SS GreenLight Racing Chevrolet | 24.846 |
| 38 | 07 | Nick Leitz | SS GreenLight Racing Chevrolet | No Time |
| DNQ | ||||
| 39 | 35 | Glen Reen | Joey Gase Motorsports Toyota | 24.501 |
| 40 | 53 | David Starr | Joey Gase Motorsports Chevrolet | 24.944 |
