NASCAR qualifying today: Byron to start third at Circuit of The Americas

AUSTIN, Texas — Friday afternoon saw Hendrick Motorsports take to the track in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the first time in 2025. After qualifying, William Byron earned the third starting spot for Saturday's race.

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Friday's action saw practice followed by qualifying at Circuit of The Americas' 2.3-mile layout with the two-time DAYTONA 500 champion behind the wheel. The sessions were the first time any driver in the NASCAR ranks had seen the track's shorter layout that will be utilized by the touring divisions this weekend.

In practice, Byron was 12th-quickest of the 41 entires. Connor Zilisch will start from pole position.

Check out the starting lineup for the main event below.

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NASCAR XFINITY qualifying today

1. Conner Zilisch, No. 88
2. Ross Chastain, No. 9 
   
3. William Byron, No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 
   
4. Justin Allgaier, No. 7
5. Carson Kvapil, No. 1
6. Corey Heim, No. 24
7. Taylor Gray, No. 54
8. Sam Mayer, No. 41
9. Riley Herbst, No. 19
10. Christian Ekes, No. 16
11. Jesse Love, No. 2
12. Austin Hill, No. 21
13. Brandon Jones, No. 20
14. Cole Custer, No. 00
15. Daniel Dye, No. 10
16. Sammy Smith, No. 8
17. Anthony Alfredo, No. 42
18. Blaine Perkins, No. 31
19. Nick Sanchez, No. 48
20. Austin Green, No. 32
21. Josh Williams, No. 11
22. Matt Dibenedetto, No. 99
23. William Sawalich, No. 18
24. Carson Hocevar, No. 14
25. Preston Pardus, No. 50
26. Josh Bilicki, No. 91
27. Alex Labbe, No. 07
28. Sage Karam, No. 53
29. Jeb Burton, No. 27
30. Dean Thompson, No. 26
31. Harrison Burton, No. 25
32. Brennan Poole, No. 44
33. Ryan Ellis, No. 71
34. Brad Perez, No. 45
35. Jeremy Clements, No. 51
36. Baltazar Leguizamon, No. 35
    
37. Thomas Annunziata, No. 70
    
38. Ryan Seig, No. 39

Who did not qualify for the Xfinity race?

Kris Wright (No. 5), Parker Retzlaff (No. 4) and Kyle Seig (No. 28) did not qualify for the race. 

NASCAR race today on TV

The Xfinity Series will race on Saturday, March 1st. Tune into the CW at 2:30 p.m. ET to catch the race. 

NASCAR Truck race today

The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series will not be racing at COTA this year. The tour will return to action in two weeks at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.