William Byron wins pole position for NASCAR Cup elimination race at Martinsville
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
MARTINSVILLE, Va.—Talk about perfect timing.
William Byron, one of four drivers realistically needing a victory at Martinsville Speedway to advance to the Championship 4 race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, picked the ideal moment to win his first pole position at the historic short track.
Covering the 0.526-mile distance in 19.286 seconds (98.185 mph) on Saturday, Byron edged non-Playoff driver Ty Gibbs (98.175 mph) by 0.002 seconds for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The Busch Light Pole Award was Byron’s third of the year and 16th of his career but his first since the eighth race of the 2025 season at Darlington Raceway.
Though he’s starting up front, Byron was wary of placing too much emphasis on his pole-winning run.
“It’s nice, but it doesn’t count for anything yet,” said the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, who starts Sunday’s race fifth in the Playoff standings and 36 points below the cut line for the Nov. 2 Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. “Yeah, it’s good. We’ve prepared well coming here, and I feel pretty good about my race car…
“You always want track position, and being on the pole is nice. It gives us a good pit stall—that’s probably the biggest key out of it—and it gives us a chance to control the race for a little bit.”
Byron’s teammate, Kyle Larson, fourth in the standings and 36 points above the elimination line, will start third after a lap at 98.038 mph. Playoff drivers Joey Logano (98.002 mph) and Denny Hamlin (97.876 mph) secured starting positions four and five for the final race in the Round of 8.
Logano is 38 points below the cut line in a virtual must-win situation. Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe already have made the Championship 4 with a victories in the Round of 8.
“You’re never satisfied or never happy until we win, but that’s a good starting spot for our Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang,” said Logano, the defending series champion. “I can see the front from there, and hopefully we’ll get one of the pit stalls we’re looking for, but we’re all or nothing.
“You just kind of have to keep that attitude all day and see if we can put it up there. It seems like our short-run speed was in the game. Our long run speed was less than great, so we’ve got some work to do there.”
Cole Custer qualified sixth, followed by Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Briscoe and Austin Cindric. Along with Byron and Logano, Elliott and 31st-place qualifier Ryan Blaney almost certainly must win the race to advance.
Blaney has won the last two fall Playoff races at Martinsville. His victory in 2023 led to a series championship.
Christopher Bell, 37 points above the elimination line, was the only other Playoff driver outside the top 10 in time trials. He qualified 12th.
NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Line Up by Row
Martinsville Speedway
Xfinity 500
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 10/25/2025 @ 06:49 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 24 William Byron (P) Cincinnati Chevrolet 19.286 98.185
2 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 19.288 98.175
Row 2: 3 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 19.315 98.038
4 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 19.322 98.002
Row 3: 5 11 Denny Hamlin (P) King's Hawaiian Toyota 19.347 97.876
6 41 Cole Custer Texas A&M University Ford 19.348 97.871
Row 4: 7 8 Kyle Busch BetMGM Chevrolet 19.352 97.850
8 9 Chase Elliott (P) LLumar Chevrolet 19.353 97.845
Row 5: 9 19 Chase Briscoe (P) Bass Pro Shops Toyota 19.376 97.729
10 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford 19.393 97.643
Row 6: 11 71 Michael McDowell Gainbridge/WIMNA Chevrolet 19.399 97.613
12 20 Christopher Bell (P) Coofandy Menswear Toyota 19.401 97.603
Row 7: 13 1 Ross Chastain Moose Fraternity Chevrolet 19.408 97.568
14 45 Tyler Reddick Chumba Casino Toyota 19.411 97.553
Row 8: 15 77 Carson Hocevar Modo Casino Chevrolet 19.417 97.523
16 34 Todd Gilliland Grillo's Pickles Ford 19.433 97.442
Row 9: 17 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 19.437 97.422
18 60 Ryan Preece Castrol/TravelCenters of America Ford 19.438 97.417
Row 10: 19 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 19.453 97.342
20 3 Austin Dillon BPS/Winchester Waterfowl Chevrolet 19.455 97.332
Row 11: 21 23 Bubba Wallace Xfinity Mobile Toyota 19.459 97.312
22 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Safety Culture Chevrolet 19.462 97.297
Row 12: 23 38 Zane Smith Long John Silver's Ford 19.505 97.083
24 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 19.511 97.053
Row 13: 25 35 Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota 19.520 97.008
26 10 Ty Dillon Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 19.526 96.978
Row 14: 27 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 19.530 96.959
28 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 19.530 96.959
Row 15: 29 17 Chris Buescher Kroger/Core Power Ford 19.559 96.815
30 99 Daniel Suarez Jockey Infinite Cool Underwear Chevrolet 19.560 96.810
Row 16: 31 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Discount Tire Ford 19.606 96.583
32 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JackLinks Non-Vegan Chevrolet 19.629 96.470
Row 17: 33 16 AJ Allmendinger Black's Tire Chevrolet 19.648 96.376
34 7 Justin Haley NationsGuard Chevrolet 19.670 96.268
Row 18: 35 4 Noah Gragson Farm Rich Ford 19.704 96.102
36 51 Cody Ware Rexzilla/Kick.com Ford 19.832 95.482
Row 19: 37 66 Casey Mears(i) SI Yachts Ford 19.895 95.180
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 15 0 Ford 13 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Our Partners
.png)
