Connor Zilisch continued to showcase his road course prowess on Friday, capturing the pole position for Saturday’s Focused Health 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).

The 18-year-old phenom posted a blistering lap of 97.262 seconds (88.832mph) in his JR Motorsports Chevrolet, securing his second career Xfinity Series pole. Zilisch outpaced NASCAR Cup Series regulars Ross Chastain and William Byron, who qualified second and third respectively.

“It’s a really good start to the weekend. We had a rough start to the year, but getting the momentum swinging in the right direction is much-needed and what better place to do it than a track like this,” Zilisch said after qualifying. “Excited for the race tomorrow, just going to have a clean day and execute, which I know we can do.”

Chastain, making his first of five scheduled starts in JR Motorsports’ No. 9 entry, qualified approximately two-tenths behind his full-time teammate. Byron, last year’s Cup Series winner at COTA, will start third in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet.

JR Motorsports demonstrated impressive speed across its lineup, placing four cars in the top five. Defending series champion Justin Allgaier qualified fourth, while Rookie of the Year contender Carson Kvapil completed the team’s strong showing in fifth.

Corey Heim qualified sixth in Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 24 Toyota, followed by Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, and Christian Eckes to round out the top ten. This season’s race winners, Jesse Love and Austin Hill from Richard Childress Racing, will start 11th and 12th.

Three drivers failed to qualify for the 38-car field from the 41 entries: Parker Retzlaff, Brad Perez, and Thomas Annunziata, who suffered a mechanical issue during qualifying.

The Focused Health 250 is scheduled for Saturday at Circuit of The Americas, where Zilisch will look to convert his pole position into his first Xfinity Series victory.

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images