Martin Truex Jr. snags NACAR Cup Series Pole at Martinsville
Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Martin Truex Jr. may be out of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but the veteran driver still has compelling goals, as he proved with a pole-winning run on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway.
After a final-round lap at 96.190 mph (19.686 seconds), Truex will start from the top spot in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Behind him and next to him, six Playoff drivers, led by second-place starter Chase Elliott, will begin their battle for the final two positions in the Nov. 10 Championship 4 Race at Phoenix Raceway.
And at the opposite end of the spectrum, Playoff driver Denny Hamlin, Truex’s teammate, will start from the rear after a bizarre wreck in practice damaged his No. 11 Toyota, preventing him from making a qualifying run.
“I feel great about our car on stickers (new tires),” said Truex, who was 0.049 seconds faster than third-place starter William Byron, who posted a lap at 95.931 mph in the final round. “You never want to get too optimistic, but I fired off really good in practice, especially that second run with the track rubbered-in.
“I was like ‘If we can just hit the balance here for qualifying, it should be really fast.’”
Earlier this season, Truex announced he will retire from full-time racing at season’s end.
“We’ve got two more chances to win,” said Truex, who earned his third pole at Martinsville, his first of the season and the 24th of his career. “We want it bad, we’re working hard, we’re not giving up, and hopefully we can get it for everyone.”
Though he was fifth fastest in the final round, Elliott starts second because he was the fastest of the five qualifiers in Group A. That left Byron third, Chase Briscoe fourth and Ty Gibbs fifth.
Harrison Burton, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon will start from positions six through 10 respectively. The three Hendrick Motorsports drivers—Elliott, Byron and Larson—are the only Playoff drivers in the top 10 on the grid.
Other Playoff drivers qualified as follows: Joey Logano 12th, Ryan Blaney 14th, Christopher Bell 16th, and Tyler Reddick 31st. Logano and Reddick already have qualified for the Championship 4 with respective victories at Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami.
As qualifying progressed, Hamlin’s crew was trying to repair his primary car, which backed into the Turn 3 wall when the throttle stuck during practice, thanks to a chunk of rubber that found its way into the throttle body.
“We had just come back out, we had just made an adjustment to the car, and it was doing everything it needed to do,” Hamlin said. “It was maneuvering through the pack pretty well. I went into Turn 3, and the car just didn’t slow down, and the throttle hung on us. The throttle had no chance to come backwards.
“That certainly caught me off guard, but it happens. We just got unlucky.”
Truex was sympathetic to his teammate’s misfortune but wasn’t worried about a similar circumstance on his car.
“About as much as I’m concerned about getting hit by lightning,” Truex quipped. “One-in-a-million. I don’t know how—his number just came up.”
Starting Line Up by Row
Martinsville Speedway
XFINITY 500
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 11/2/2024 @ 03:17 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Jeff Gordon 09/22/96 3:11:54 82.223
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 19 Martin Truex Jr. Auto-Owners Insurance/Thank You Martin 19.686 96.190
2 9 Chase Elliott (P) NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 19.758 95.840
Row 2: 3 24 William Byron (P) Liberty University Chevrolet 19.735 95.951
4 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 19.767 95.796
Row 3: 5 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 19.743 95.912
6 21 Harrison Burton Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 19.807 95.603
Row 4: 7 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 19.744 95.908
8 41 Ryan Preece Mohawk Northeast Ford 19.831 95.487
Row 5: 9 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 19.809 95.593
10 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 19.856 95.367
Row 6: 11 4 Josh Berry # SunnyD Ford 19.776 95.752
12 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 19.795 95.661
Row 7: 13 38 Todd Gilliland Ruedebusch Ford 19.779 95.738
14 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Discount Tire Ford 19.796 95.656
Row 8: 15 31 Daniel Hemric High Point Paint Services Chevrolet 19.793 95.670
16 20 Christopher Bell (P) Mobil 1 Toyota 19.801 95.632
Row 9: 17 34 Michael McDowell Benebone Ford 19.809 95.593
18 6 Brad Keselowski King's Hawaiian Ford 19.803 95.622
Row 10: 19 23 Bubba Wallace Xfinity Toyota 19.830 95.492
20 99 Daniel Suarez Jockey Outdoors by Luke Bryan Chevrolet 19.805 95.612
Row 11: 21 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 19.831 95.487
22 1 Ross Chastain Moose Fraternity Chevrolet 19.825 95.516
Row 12: 23 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 19.842 95.434
24 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford 19.883 95.237
Row 13: 25 10 Noah Gragson Bed Bath & Beyond Ford 19.857 95.362
26 17 Chris Buescher BuildSubmarines.com Ford 19.925 95.036
Row 14: 27 77 Carson Hocevar # Premier Security Chevrolet 19.866 95.319
28 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Colgate/Philadelphia Whipped Chevrolet 19.926 95.032
Row 15: 29 16 Shane Van Gisbergen(i) Acceptance Insurance Chevrolet 19.895 95.180
30 7 Justin Haley Optic Gaming/Gainbridge Sport Chevrolet 20.000 94.680
Row 16: 31 45 Tyler Reddick (P) Monster Energy Toyota 19.902 95.146
32 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 20.069 94.354
Row 17: 33 15 Kaz Grala # Meat N' Bone Ford 20.094 94.237
34 51 Corey LaJoie Jacob Construction Ford 20.110 94.162
Row 18: 35 66 Josh Bilicki(i) 2ONE Pouches Ford 20.296 93.299
36 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 20.156 93.947
Row 19: 37 11 Denny Hamlin (P) FedEx One Rate Toyota 0.000 0.000
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Ford 15 0 Chevrolet 14 0
Toyota 8 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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