By Mike Haag, Raceday San Antonio

FORT WORTH – Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill will start on the pole for Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway after rain forced NASCAR officials to cancel Friday’s qualifying session.

Austin Hill #21 driver of the Bennett Transportation Chevrolet will start on the pole for Saturday’s Andy Frozen Custard 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

The line up is based by metrics – 70% previous race finish and 30% owner points. Lowest in owner points Dawson Cram and C.J. McLaughlin will be DNQs.

Justin Allgaier in the No. 7 Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet will start second alongside Hill, who will be driving the No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet.

Harrison Burton, Sheldon Creed, Sam Mayer, Matt DiBenedetto, Daniel Dye, Anthony Alfredo will round out the first five rows on the starting grid.

“It’s really weird obviously sitting on the pole and not going out there and making a lap,” Hill said. “It just shows that we did everything right last week to end up in this position. I’m excited about tomorrow about having clean air. Nobody knows what their car is going to be like tomorrow. I’ll just have to watch the NASCAR Truck race and the Cup qualifying and see if we can learn anything from them and then make our best educated guess tomorrow.”

Texas Motor Speedway was hit with several thunderstorms on Friday. Track officials attempted to dry the track but with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race scheduled for 7 p.m., they ran out of time and were forced to cancel the NASCAR Xfinity practice and qualifying sessions.

“It’s definitely going to interesting to see how the race plays out,” Hill said. “The hotter it is the more slick it is going to be. There’s going to be more grip on the track. It’s going to be interesting to see where it ends up. I don’t think I have ever been to Texas where it is like 90 degrees.”

Saturday’s forecast calls for sunny skies with temperatures around 74 degrees.

“I have a lot of unknowns going into tomorrow,” Hill said. “I don’t know how my car is going to drive because we didn’t have practice or qualifying. On top of that you have the weather which is going to be in the mid 70s. With the rain today the track is going to be green. It is going to be a lot different the way the race is going to play out because how cool the temperatures will be.”

Hill said he was not sure starting up front will give him any advantage when the green flag drops at 1 p.m. The race will be 200 laps, 300 miles.

“It’s going to be one of those things where you have jitters the first 10 laps where everyone tries to feel their car out and see where the track is at,” Hill said. “After that it’s going to be just regular racing.”

Kyle Larson will replace JR Motorsports rookie Connor Zilisch, who withdrew because of a back injury he sustained in a hard crash at Talladega. Larson will be driving the No. 88 JRM Camaro, competing against teammate and series leader Allgaier.

“Texas has been a strong track for us the last few years,” Allgaier said. “We were close last year, and I know that we are going to have that same speed when we unload on Friday.

“Everyone on this Jarrett team is ready to go, and we know what we need to do to be just those couple spots better at the end on Saturday.”