Martin Truex Jr. grabs NASCAR Cup Series pole for final full-time race of his carrer
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Retiring veteran Martin Truex Jr. claimed the Busch Light Pole Award for his last race as a full-time competitor, besting the field in qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Peacock).
The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will start on the front row alongside Team Penske’s Joey Logano, the top qualifying championship contender. Logano’s No. 22 Ford was a slight .010 seconds slower than Truex’s Camry in Saturday’s qualifying session around the desert one-miler.
“It’s very cool, honestly, you always want to be a guy known for going fast at any track, any situation,” said Truex, who claimed the pole with a lap of 134.741 mph and is racing for his first victory of the season. “It feels good, very cool. The big prize is tomorrow, though, and hopefully, we can get that one.”
“We’ve got them where we want ’em right now, just got to keep them there,” Logano said smiling.
Three of the four championship-eligible drivers advanced to the final round of qualifying for the season finale. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron will start his No. 24 Chevrolet from eighth position and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick will start his No. 45 Toyota 10th.
Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney was the only driver among the four title contenders not to advance out of the opening round, his No. 12 Team Penske Ford got loose between Turns 1 and 2 on his hot lap and he will start 17th in the 40-car field.
Because Logano’s car had to go through inspection two extra times before passing, he lost the benefit of getting to select his pit stall and his car chief was ejected for the race. He did not appear to be overly concerned, however.
“We feel confident,” Logano said. “I feel like our car is strong.
“We feel strong about our team and these type of pressure situations, we feel very solid as far as our team and these moments. We’re just executing our plan.”
His Penske teammate Blaney also remained confident despite the qualifying setback.
“Our lap obviously didn’t go well, I just got kind of free going into [turn] one and ruined it all and couldn’t really make it back up,” Blaney said. “I’m surprised honestly it ran as well as it did for as loose as I got. I think our car is pretty good and still nice to have a decent pit stall.
“We’ll just kind of take it how we can get it tomorrow, just work through the first handful of laps and kinda start marching forward. Pretty similar to last year, hopefully, it ends the same. If we can charge through the field, I think our race car is good enough we can make that happen.”
Byron was pleased to get that first pit stall pick with his qualifying effort but had hoped to turn a faster lap. He was quickest in the opening round.
“Sucks didn’t just quite get the lap I wanted in the second lap but feel really good about our race car and get first pit pick and that’s huge. Really excited about those things and just want to put together a good start to the race. It’s such a long race, it’s really about getting to the finish and having what you need there.”
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain and Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson will start third and fourth. Hendrick’s Chase Elliott and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs make up the third row.
Christopher Bell and Byron will line up alongside one another on the fourth row, with Wood Brothers Racing’s Harrison Burton and Reddick completing row five.
Starting Line Up by Row
Phoenix Raceway
NASCAR Cup Series Championship
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 11/9/2024 @ 06:26 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Tony Stewart 11/07/99 2:38:28 118.132
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 26.718 134.741
2 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 26.728 134.690
Row 2: 3 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Chevrolet 26.812 134.268
4 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 26.804 134.308
Row 3: 5 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 26.820 134.228
6 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 26.811 134.273
Row 4: 7 20 Christopher Bell Interstate Batteries/DEWALT Toyota 26.992 133.373
8 24 William Byron (P) Axalta Chevrolet 26.822 134.218
Row 5: 9 21 Harrison Burton Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 27.234 132.188
10 45 Tyler Reddick (P) The Beast Unleashed Toyota 26.842 134.118
Row 6: 11 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 26.748 134.590
12 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 26.739 134.635
Row 7: 13 7 Justin Haley Parity Week By Gainbridge Chevrolet 26.755 134.554
14 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Toyota 26.745 134.605
Row 8: 15 77 Carson Hocevar # Delaware Life Chevrolet 26.788 134.389
16 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 26.790 134.378
Row 9: 17 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford 26.813 134.263
18 42 John Hunter Nemechek Mobil 1 Toyota 26.850 134.078
Row 10: 19 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 26.899 133.834
20 51 Corey LaJoie Mighty Fire Breaker Ford 26.852 134.068
Row 11: 21 10 Noah Gragson Nitro Circus Ford 26.928 133.690
22 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 26.884 133.909
Row 12: 23 84 Jimmie Johnson Carvana Toyota 26.960 133.531
24 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 26.918 133.740
Row 13: 25 8 Kyle Busch 3CHI Chevrolet 26.968 133.492
26 16 Derek Kraus Western States Flooring Chevrolet 26.945 133.605
Row 14: 27 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 27.029 133.190
28 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 26.960 133.531
Row 15: 29 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota 27.131 132.690
30 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fry's/Silk Chevrolet 27.035 133.161
Row 16: 31 15 Kaz Grala # Meat N' Bone Ford 27.152 132.587
32 38 Todd Gilliland Boozy Jerky! Ford 27.221 132.251
Row 17: 33 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 27.164 132.528
34 99 Daniel Suarez Worldwide Express Chevrolet 27.313 131.805
Row 18: 35 34 Michael McDowell Love's/Fleetguard Ford 27.255 132.086
36 3 Austin Dillon Dow Chevrolet 27.568 130.586
Row 19: 37 44 JJ Yeley(i) Chevrolet 27.772 129.627
38 66 Chad Finchum(i) 2ONE Pouches Ford 28.148 127.895
Row 20: 39 4 Josh Berry # Texas A&M University Ford 0.000 0.000
40 50 Jeb Burton(i) Luxedo Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 0 Ford 15 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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