For the second consecutive week, Truex beat all his competition and won the pole for a playoff race and will lead an all-Joe Gibbs Racing front row Sunday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Truex, the last to make a qualifying attempt in the final round of Saturday’s session, posted an average lap speed of 94.153 mph, just edging teammate Ty Gibbs (94.115 mph).
The pole – his third of the season and 23rd of his career – couldn’t have come at a better time.
He enters the final race of the semifinal round of the playoffs, 17 points behind the cutoff line which would allow him to advance to the Championship 4. A win would automatically put him in next week’s title race at Phoenix.
“I mean, it’s definitely a big deal, obviously,” Truex said. “The first pit stall here is huge. We have a couple new guys on our pit crew for tomorrow and looking forward to seeing what they can do and I’m sure they’re excited to have that No. 1 stall.
“All in all, a good day. This car is feeling pretty good. It’s fast. We just got to get it better on the long run for tomorrow.”
Chase Briscoe will start third (94.106 mph), JGR driver Denny Hamlin fourth and playoff driver Kyle Larson fifth.
Completing the top-10 starting lineup are Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski.
Round 1 / Group A
Gibbs edged his JGR Hamlin to lead Group A with an average lap speed of 94.581 mph.
Hamlin was second fastest at 94.425 mph while Keselowski was third (93.673 mph).
Also advancing to the final round of qualifying from Group A were Wallace and Harvick.
Among those who failed to advance were three playoff drivers – William Byron, Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick.
Reddick was eighth fastest when he completed the first of his two laps but spun out off Turn 4 on his second lap. Fortunately, he did not make any contact with his No. 45 Toyota.
“We were really loose in practice to start,” Reddick said. “I think we just over-adjusted.”
Round 1 / Group B
Truex led the way in Group B with an average lap speed of 94.595 mph.
Larson, who is already locked in the Championship 4, ended up second fastest (94.519 mph) while Briscoe was third (94.303 mph).
Also advancing to the final round from Group B were Custer and Bell.
Among those who failed to advance were Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, playoff driver Ryan Blaney and A.J. Allmendinger, who briefly hit the wall during his qualifying…
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