Corey Day 12th, Kyle Larson Secures Pole in Darlington O’Reilly Series Qualifying

Qualifying at Darlington Raceway produced quick laps and close margins. The unique, demanding track challenged every driver during Saturday morning runs.

Qualifying overview

Kyle Larson posted the fastest time of the session. Kyle Larson Secures Pole in Darlington O’Reilly Series Qualifying with a lap of 29.994 seconds.

Corey Day will start 12th in his first O’Reilly Series race at Darlington. Corey Day 12th after recording a 30.447-second qualifying lap in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet.

Top qualifiers

• Kyle Larson, No. 88 — 29.994 seconds (pole).
• Christopher Bell, No. 19 — 30.041 seconds.
• Carson Kvapil, No. 1 — 30.180 seconds.
• Justin Allgaier, No. 7 — 30.220 seconds.
• Parker Retzlaff, No. 99 — 30.299 seconds.
• Sam Mayer, No. 41 — 30.307 seconds.
• William Sawalich, No. 18 — 30.338 seconds.
• Brandon Jones, No. 20 — 30.355 seconds.
• Ross Chastain, No. 9 — 30.400 seconds.
• Jesse Love, No. 2 — 30.411 seconds.

Full-field notes

Nathan Byrd in the No. 42 did not record a qualifying lap. Several veterans and rising talents filled competitive times throughout the session.

Driver form and context

Corey Day arrived at Darlington on a four-race top-10 streak. He finished eighth at Las Vegas the previous weekend.

Day sits seventh in the NOAPS points standings. This comes through five events in his first full-time season in the series.

Larson is subbing for Alex Bowman, who is recovering from vertigo. Larson drove the same car to victory at Las Vegas last week.

Day also has previous Darlington experience in trucks. He finished ninth in a CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Darlington last year.

Weekend schedule and broadcast

Practice and Cup qualifying followed the O’Reilly Series session. The NOAPS race was slated for a 5:30 p.m. start on Saturday.

• Saturday, March 21 — 2:30 p.m.: Cup Series practice, Prime Video.
• Saturday, March 21 — 3:40 p.m.: Cup Series qualifying, Prime Video.
• Saturday, March 21 — 5:30 p.m.: NOAPS race, CW.
• Sunday, March 15 — 3:00 p.m.: Cup Series race, FS1.

Filmogaz.com will continue coverage throughout the weekend. Updates and race reports will follow after the checkered flag.