The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series heads to Rockingham Speedway. Corey Day secured his first pole position for the race. Meanwhile, everyone has their eyes on the race today as it’s Cleetus McFarland’s debut race for the O’Reilly Series as well.
Details For the Rockingham Speedway NASCAR O’Reilly Series Race Today
The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race goes green at 2:40 p.m. ET on CW, with pre-race coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET.
The race runs stages of 60-60-130 laps; teams are limited to four tire sets. Also, the fuel window is 95-105 laps, according to Bob Pockrass. The weather looks manageable for Saturday. And with temperatures in the 80s and only a 20% chance of rain.
Corey Day will lead the field to green from the pole after turning a scorching lap of 22.717 seconds during Friday’s qualifying session, the first pole of his NOAPS career.
The No. 17 driver was the penultimate driver to hit the track in qualifying, but he made every second count. Neither he nor crew chief Adam Wall had ever made an O’Reilly Series start at Rockingham before.
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But despite that, both Day and Wall have been clear about their strategy heading in, and track position, they agreed, will be everything. Now they have it.
“It felt really good. We’ve got a really, really good car,” Day said after his qualifying run. “Thanks to my guys, it always makes my job easy when it’s that good. Super excited for the race tomorrow, definitely in a good spot and I think track position is going to be pretty crucial.”
Joining Day on the front row is Jesse Love in second. Then Parker Retzlaff is starting third. In addition, Justin Allgaier is in fourth.
Carson Kvapil rounds out the top five. Likely, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, and Brandon Jones follow in sixth, seventh, and eighth. Sheldon Creed and Brent Crews complete the top 10.
Further back, Austin Hill, Ryan Sieg, Rajah Caruth, William Sawalich, and Anthony Alfredo start 11th through 15th. Harrison Burton, Jeremy Clements, Dean Thompson, Sammy Smith, and Lavar Scott fill out positions 16 through 20.
Meanwhile, Cleetus McFarland will be one of the most-watched drivers on the grid Saturday. He is piloting the No. 33 Chevrolet as part of a three-race deal with RCR.
A strong run at Rockingham could open the door to more races in the series. So the pressure is real. On top of that, the stakes are high.
McFarland is also expected to compete at Daytona and Talladega. However, those appearances hinge on gaining NASCAR’s approval to race in O’Reilly Series superspeedway events.
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So Saturday’s outing carries real weight. It’s because how he performs will likely determine his future in the series.
Positions 21 through 38 round out the field, with Kyle Sieg, Patrick Staropoli, Austin Green, and Brennan Poole.
Then also, Josh Williams, Nathan Byrd, Blaine Perkins, JJ Yeley, Jeb Burton, Alex Labbe, Andrew Patterson, Ryan Ellis, Josh Bilicki, Dawson Cram, Joey Gase, Blake Lothian, and Garrett Smithley are all set to take the green flag Saturday afternoon at Rockingham.
