Truex Grabs Another Busch Pole Award At Martinsville

Martin Truex Jr. celebrates the Busch Light Pole Award Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Aiming to secure a win in his final full-time NASCAR Cup Series season, Martin Truex Jr. raced to the Busch Light Pole Award Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway.

The 2017 Cup Series champion earned his first pole of the season and first pole since the Martinsville playoff race a year ago with a lap of 19.686 seconds (96.190 mph) in the No. 19 Auto Owner’s Insurance Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Truex actually led both rounds of knockout qualifying, with his time of 19.584 seconds (96.691 mph) in Group B of the first round serving as the fastest lap at Martinsville in the NextGen era.

It marked the Mayetta, N.J., native’s third Martinsville pole and the 24th of his Cup Series career in his 692nd start.

“That was fun,” said a jubilant Truex. “I felt great about our car on sticker [tire]s, and you never want to get too optimistic … but I fired off really well in practice when the track rubbered in and felt like if we hit the balance that it would be really fast, and it was.

“James (Small, crew chief) did a great job tuning up the single-lap speed. We haven’t had a lot good going for us lately, so this feels awesome. Anytime you’re first at anything in the Cup Series, it’s special and exciting,” he continued. “We have some work to do for race day, but hopefully we can make the gains that we need to make and have a shot to have a great day at a track I really enjoy.”

Elliott will join Truex on the front row after leading the Group A qualifiers in the final round, with a best lap of 19.758 seconds (95.840 mph) in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

The Dawsonville, Ga., native and 2020 Cup Series champion starts best among the eight remaining playoff drivers for the last elimination round and penultimate race of the season.

Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron lines up third beside Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe, who was best among the Ford drivers in the pole shootout.

Ty Gibbs starts fifth on the grid, followed by Harrison Burton, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Kyle Larson, and Austin Dillon. All four Hendrick Chevrolets are among the top nine starting positions.

Josh Berry (Group B) and Joey Logano (Group A) were the first drivers in their respective qualifying groups that failed to transfer out of the first round. They’ll start 11th and 12th, respectively.

Other notables starting deeper in the field include defending series champion Ryan Blaney (14th), likely Championship 4 contender Christopher Bell (16th), Bubba Wallace (19th), Kyle Busch (23rd), and New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen (29th).

Tyler Reddick, who locked into the Championship 4 a week ago with a thrilling last-lap victory at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, starts 31st but doesn’t have to stress about his playoff fate.

After a turn-three crash in practice due to a stuck throttle, Denny Hamlin did not take a qualifying lap and will start last in the 37-car field Sunday as he looks to bump his way into the Championship 4.

The team was assessing the damage as qualifying began and hopes to avoid moving to a backup car.

Broadcast coverage of Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville is slated for 2:30 p.m. ET, live on NBC, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.