In his penultimate start as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series competitor, Martin Truex Jr. notched his first Busch pole position of the 2024 season and for this weekend’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, November 2.
The 2017 Cup Series champion from Mayetta, New Jersey, commenced the weekend by being the fastest during the series’ lone practice session earlier on Saturday. He then was one of 10 from a total of 37-entered competitors to transfer to the final qualifying round following two qualifying group rounds. During the final qualifying round, he posted his best qualifying lap at 96.190 mph in 19.686 seconds, which was enough to claim the top-starting spot over Playoff contender Chase Elliott, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 95.840 mph in 19.758 seconds.
With this accomplishment, Truex is currently ranked in 10th place in the standings by notching his 24th career pole in NASCAR’s premier series. Additionally, it was his third at Martinsville and his first since he started on the pole in the fall Martinsville event in late October 2023. Overall, the 2024 season marks Truex’s 11th season where he has achieved a pole position in the Cup Series as he strives to record a victory while down to his final two races as a full-time Cup competitor with Joe Gibbs Racing.
“I felt great about our car on stickers [tires],” Truex said. “You never want to get too optimistic, but [the car] fired off really good in practice, especially that second run with the track rubbered in. I was like, ‘Alright, if we can just hit the balance here for qualifying, it should be really fast.’ Proud of [crew chief] James [Small] and all the guys. We haven’t had a whole lot of good going for us lately. This feels awesome. Anytime you’re first in anything in this series, it’s special and it’s exciting. We got some work to do for tomorrow, but hopefully, we can make a gain on it and have a good day.”
Highlights
Joining Truex on the front row will be Chase Elliott, who emerged as the highest-starting Playoff contender in the field. This weekend’s event at Martinsville is the third and final race in the Round of 8, Elliott is currently ranked in eighth place in the Playoff standings and is 43 points below the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round and contend for his second Cup title.
William Byron, Elliott’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, will start in third place ahead of Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs. Rounding out the top-10 starting spots are Harrison Burton, Alex Bowman, Ryan Preece, Playoff contender Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon. With three of eight Playoff contenders starting in the top 10 for Sunday’s main event, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin will start 12th, 14th, 16th, 31st and 37th, respectively.
Notably, Hamlin will start in 37th place, dead last, after opting not to post a qualifying lap due to wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s practice session. Despite Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team managing to repair the car, Hamlin, who is 18 points below the top-four cutline, will have to navigate his way through the field from the rear to maintain his title hopes.
Currently, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick are the only two Playoff contenders to be guaranteed berths to the Championship 4 field after winning the Round of 8 events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway, respectively. Christopher Bell and William Byron occupy the remaining two vacant spots above the cutline while Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott trail.
All 37 competitors entered for Sunday’s event at Martinsville earned a starting spot.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
- Martin Truex Jr., 96.190 mph, 19.686 seconds
- Chase Elliott, 95.840 mph, 19.758 seconds
- William Byron, 95.951 mph, 19.735 seconds
- Chase Briscoe, 95.796 mph, 19.767 seconds
- Ty Gibbs, 95.912 mph, 19.743 seconds
- Harrison Burton, 95.603 mph, 19.807 seconds
- Alex Bowman, 95.908 mph, 19.744 seconds
- Ryan Preece, 95.487 mph, 19.831 seconds
- Kyle Larson, 95.593 mph, 19.809 seconds
- Austin Dillon, 95.367 mph, 19.856 seconds
- Josh Berry, 95.752 mph, 19.776 seconds
- Joey Logano, 95.661 mph, 19.795 seconds
- Todd Gilliland, 95.738 mph, 19.779 seconds
- Ryan Blaney, 95.656 mph, 19.796 seconds
- Daniel Hemric, 95.670 mph, 19.793 seconds
- Christopher Bell, 95.632 mph, 19.801 seconds
- Michael McDowell, 95.593 mph, 19.809 seconds
- Brad Keselowski, 95.622 mph, 19.803 seconds
- Bubba Wallace, 95.492 mph, 19.830 seconds
- Daniel Suarez, 95.612 mph, 19.805 seconds
- Erik Jones, 95.487 mph, 19.831 seconds
- Ross Chastain, 95.516 mph, 19.825 seconds
- Kyle Busch, 95.434 mph, 19.842 seconds
- Austin Cindric, 95.237 mph, 19.883 seconds
- Noah Gragson, 95.362 mph, 19.857 seconds
- Chris Buescher, 95.036 mph, 19.925 seconds
- Carson Hocevar, 95.319 mph, 19.866 seconds
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 95.032 mph, 19.926 seconds
- Shane van Gisbergen, 95.180 mph, 19.895 seconds
- Justin Haley, 94.680 mph, 20 seconds
- Tyler Reddick, 95.146 mph, 19.902 seconds
- John Hunter Nemechek, 94.354 mph, 20.069 seconds
- Kaz Grala, 94.237 mph, 20.094 seconds
- Corey LaJoie, 94.162 mph, 20.110 seconds
- Josh Bilicki, 93.299 mph, 20.296 seconds
- Zane Smith, 93.947 mph, 20.156 seconds
- Denny Hamlin, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
The 2024 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway is set to occur on Sunday, November 3, and air at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.
