NASCAR Ford Teams Miss Top Five In Xfinity Fontana 2023 Qualifying

Qualifying for the Xfinity Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California was canceled due to rain, and thus, the starting lineup for Saturday’s race was set using the NASCAR rule book. Since the NASCAR Ford teams had a relatively uneventful Xfinity Series race at Daytona last week, that means no Blue Oval-badged racer will start within the top five, according to the qualifying formula.

As a reminder, in the event of a rained-out qualifying session, the NASCAR Rule Book outlines the following formula based on an individual driver’s performance and their respective team’s results in the previous race in order to set the Xfinity Series field:

• Driver’s fastest lap time position (15 percent)
• Driver’s final race position (25 percent)
• Owner’s final race position (25 percent)
• Owner’s points position (35 percent)

Therefore, the NASCAR Ford with the best starting position will be the No. 98 Mustang driven by Riley Herbst, who also posted the best finishing position last weekend at Daytona. Looking down the list, the next-best Ford, the No. 0 Mustang of Cole Custer, will start eighth. The rest of The Blue Oval’s teams are starting deep in the field. As the winner of last weekend’s race, the No. 21 Chevy Camaro of Austin Hill will start on the pole position.

Weather permitting, the green flag will drop on the Xfinity Series race at Fontana at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, February 25^th. It’s worth noting that this weekend’s races will be the final events held on the speedway as a two-mile oval, as it will be torn down and reconfigured into a short track in the near future.

# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver

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