BROOKLYN, Mich. (Aug. 11, 2017) – Erik Jones qualified sixth and his Furniture Row Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. qualified 13th for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Jones will line up his No. 77 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota on the outside of Row 4 after a pole-round lap of 35.678 seconds at 201.805 mph around the 2-mile oval.
“It was a good effort for the 5-hour ENERGY Toyota, starting eighth on the outside so that hopefully bodes well for a strong day for us Sunday,” said Jones. “We’re going out there for a win so everything we do, all the calls we make, are going to be more aggressive. We have to take risks on the strategy side, I have to take risks on the race track just to put ourselves in position for a win. Obviously, track position is king here at Michigan so I’m just going to try to get out front and, hopefully, a great car and great strategy will get us that win.”
Truex will line up the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota on the inside of Row 7 after a second-round lap of 35.774 at 201.263. It’s just the fifth time in 23 races this season that Truex and the No. 78 team haven’t advanced to the pole round in qualifying.
Brad Keselowski won the pole. The balance of the top-12 qualifiers, in order, were: Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Jones, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Ryan Blaney.
Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 will air live beginning at 1 p.m. MT (3 p.m. ET) on NBCSN, SiriusXM 90 and the IMS Radio Network.
