Fresh off a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series title and a win in the Old North State Nationals, Josh Berry entered the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway as the favorite to win both the pole and the race on Saturday afternoon.

Although Berry put together a stellar lap of 17.765, it was not enough to earn the pole for the 225-lap feature. That honor belonged to Matt Cox, who will lead the field to the green flag after posting a time of 17.759 seconds.

Berry’s run was good enough to put him on the outside of the front row. Rounding out the top 5 were Sam Yarbrough, four-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series champion Lee Pulliam, and two-time ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner Timothy Peters. 

The #03 of Brenden “Butterbean” Queen was fastest in final practice and will roll off sixth. Ty Majeski and Matt Craig, who are both making their Late Model debuts this weekend from the Super Late Model ranks, qualified 14th and 17th respectively. 

Charlie Powell III and Robert Powell are both running #22 machines in honor of former Florence track owner Charlie Powell Jr., who passed away from COVID-19 earlier this year. They will start 18th and 19th tonight. 

LMSC Qualifying Results:

  1. #51 Matt Cox- 17.759
  2. #8 Josh Berry- 17.765
  3. #95 Sam Yarbrough- 17.793
  4. #78 Lee Pulliam- 17.801
  5. #22 Timothy Peters- 17.801
  6. #03 Brenden Queen- 17.808
  7. #1 Nolan Pope- 17.819
  8. #88 Doug Barnes Jr.- 17.842
  9. #99 Austin Somero- 17.858
  10. #13 Wes Burton- 17.863
  11. #09 Riley Gentry- 17.885
  12. #44 Justin Johnson- 17.929
  13. #55 Mark Wertz- 17.965
  14. #77 Ty Majeski- 17.967
  15. #16 Casey Kelley- 17.972
  16. #12 Austin McDaniel- 17.988
  17. #19 Matt Craig- 17.989
  18. #22 CP Powell III- 17.995
  19. #22 Robert Powell- 17.997
  20. #2 Joshua Yeoman- 18.005
  21. #12 Sammy Smith- 18.012
  22. #2 Braden Rogers- 18.025
  23. #11 Blaise Brinkley- 18.029
  24. #95 Jacob Heafner- 18.061
  25. #59 Heath Causey- 18.076
  26. #15 Mitch Walker- 18.084
  27. #00 Averitt Lucas- 18.089
  28. #14 Connor Jones- 18.110
  29. #21 Dylan Ward- 18.128
  30. #60 RA Brown- 18.180
  31. #98 Kevin Parsons- 18.225
  32. #13 Bobby June- 18.276
  33. #94 Jamie Weatherford – 18.335
  34. #18 David Roberts- no time
  35. #18 Anthony Adams- no time

Note: Skyler Whitfield contributed to this story