A.J. Allmendinger rockets to Xfinity pole at Road America

Allmendinger set a blistering pace in the final round of Friday’s qualifying, turning a track-record average lap speed of 111.666 mph on the recently repaved 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisc.

It’s the second pole this season for Allmendinger, who is making his fourth start of the year this weekend. He hasn’t finished worse than second in his three previous races.

He’s won at both Austin and Nashville, along with a second-place finish at Sonoma in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Xfinity car this year.

“I think our Chevy is getting better and I think we still have room to gain,” said Allmendinger, who will miss Cup practice and qualifying Saturday at Richmond to run the Xfinity race. “You know with this repave the track is completely different now.

“We did our homework. We made (the car) a lot better in the second round. I think we still have to make it better to go beat these guys tomorrow.”

Derek Kraus will drive the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Cup car in his absence, but Allmendinger will have to start from the rear of the field. He enters the Richmond Cup weekend just 17 points outside of the playoffs.

Cole Custer ended up second-fastest (111.362 mph) in qualifying and Justin Allgaier – who was fastest in practice – was third (111.164 mph). Riley Herbst and Sam Mayer rounded out the top five.

Completing the top-10 in the starting lineup are Connor Mosack, Sage Karam, Kaz Grala, Sammy Smith and John Hunter Nemechek.

Allmendinger has 17 NXS victories in his career, and the first of them came at the Road America course in 2013 while driving for Team Penske.