Sheldon Creed picked up the pole position after a lightning strike ended NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying at EchoPark Speedway after only one of the scheduled two rounds were completed. By virtue of posting the fastest lap in the opening round, Creed took the pole position by 0.071 seconds over Austin Hill. Creed’s pole-winning run was thanks to a 32.107-second (172.673 mph) lap time in the session. Sam Mayer, Brandon Jones, Jesse Love, Connor Zilisch, Taylor Gray, CJ McLaughlin, Harrison Burton, and Aric Almirola will comprise the remainder of the top-10 starters in Friday night’s race at Atlanta. Here is the official starting lineup for Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta. Race 17 of 33. Pos Car Driver Lap Time Speed 1 00 Sheldon Creed 32.107 172.673 2 21 Austin Hill 32.178 172.292 3 41 Sam Mayer 32.190 172.227 4 20 Brandon Jones 32.218 172.078 5 2 Jesse Love 32.228 172.024 6 88 Connor Zilisch # 32.269 171.806 7 54 Taylor Gray # 32.270 171.800 8 91 CJ McLaughlin 32.270 171.800 9 25 Harrison Burton 32.303 171.625 10 19 Aric Almirola 32.310 171.588 11 48 Nick Sanchez # 32.322 171.524 12 18 William Sawalich # 32.369 171.275 13 39 Ryan Sieg 32.376 171.238 14 8 Sammy Smith 32.422 170.995 15 31 Blaine Perkins 32.429 170.958 16 7 Justin Allgaier 32.447 170.863 17 16 Christian Eckes # 32.459 170.800 18 4 Parker Retzlaff 32.472 170.732 19 70 Leland Honeyman 32.479 170.695 20 24 Patrick Staropoli 32.494 170.616 21 28 Kyle Sieg 32.522 170.469 22 10 Daniel Dye # 32.529 170.433 23 32 Katherine Legge (i) 32.532 170.417 24 1 Carson Kvapil # 32.534 170.406 25 42 Anthony Alfredo 32.540 170.375 26 51 Jeremy Clements 32.585 170.140 27 27 Jeb Burton 32.594 170.093 28 71 Ryan Ellis 32.595 170.087 29 26 Dean Thompson # 32.642 169.843 30 11 Josh Williams 32.652 169.791 31 5 Kris Wright 32.673 169.681 32 44 Brennan Poole 32.759 169.236 33 99 Matt DiBenedetto 32.890 168.562 34 35 Joey Gase 32.918 168.418 35 07 Nick Leitz 32.980 168.102 36 14 Garrett Smithley 33.075 167.619 37 45 Mason Massey 33.141 167.285 38 53 Mason Maggio No Time No Time # indicates Rookie of the Year contender (i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.