A 13-Second Lap? That Was Justin Haley’s Busch Clash Pole-Winning Time

Sophomore driver Justin Haley ran a blistering lap under sunny skies at the Busch Clash Saturday, clocking just over 13 seconds at 67.099 mph around the temporary quarter-mile oval packed into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. That puts Haley on pole for the first of four 25-lap heat races Sunday afternoon that will determine who gets into the 150-lap main tonight.

Haley beat out everyone, including all the veteran drivers, for the honor. Two-time series champ Kyle Busch is on pole for the second heat race, garnering a 66.406 mph lap in his debut for RCR. Christopher Bell will start the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on pole for the third heat race, while Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron put his Chevrolet on pole in the fourth heat race.

Qualifying consisted of three laps—a warmup and two timed laps. The track is unforgiving: JGR driver Martin Truex Jr. was fastest in Saturday practice but got only 22nd-fastest in qualifying. Not much room for error in a quarter mile.

“I feel like we were a pretty good car in practice there, just wasn’t getting the full potential out of the race car and obviously in qualifying our lap was just dominant,” Haley said. “I feel pretty confident about where we are. It’s obviously a good place to start the season. Not sure why we’re so good here. I wish I had this talent at all the races but pretty thankful and it’s really cool to give Kaulig Racing their first pole, my first pole as a driver in my second year as a driver here.”

The day was not without drama in other circles, as the No. 12 Team Penske Ford driven by Ryan Blaney—11th fastest at one point—was disallowed because he drove the wrong direction to the back straightaway after spinning on a hot lap and spun his car around to complete the lap at speed. It’s illegal to drive backward on track.

The No. 54 JGR Toyota driven by Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Ty Gibbs was also penalized after it was determined his Joe Gibbs Racing crew made unapproved adjustments just prior to the qualifying session. Gibbs’ Toyota caught fire during the final practice session and was taken to the garage for repairs. The team was able to fix it without going to a backup car, however NASCAR determined some of the repairs fell into the “unapproved adjustments” penalty category.

“First off want to thank my whole Monster Energy team they’ve worked so hard,” Gibbs said. “We have to start last in the heat race but we’ve got a great car.

“It’ll be fun,” Gibbs added with a smile.

The format to set the 27-car feature field Sunday afternoon includes four 25-lap heat races with the top-five finishers advancing to the feature. There will then be a pair of ‘last chance qualifiers’ with the top-three finishers in each advancing to the feature with one final starting spot awarded to the highest 2022 championship finisher that hadn’t moved into the main event field otherwise.

Nine cars entered will miss the feature show.