Martin Truex, Jr. shoots to pole during final Martinsville Cup start

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Martinsville Speedway would be for Martin Truex Jr. could be the last appearance on the historic half-mile paperclip. So it’s fitting that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will lead the field to green.

Truex, behind the wheel of the No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry

It is the New Jersey native Mayetta’s third pole position at Martinsville Speedway and the 24th of his career in the NASCAR Cup Series. The driver of the No. 19 also took pole position at the circuit last fall, leading 47 laps and finishing outside the top 10 in 12th place.

The 500-lap event doesn’t have huge significance for the soon-to-be-retired Truex, as he was eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after the first round of three races, but is one of his last chances to secure safety. a victory in his last full-time campaign.

START LINEUP: 2024 XFINITY 500 in Martinsville

“Yes, that was (what I meant by wanting to have fun),” Truex said after his qualifying lap. “I felt great about our car on stickers. You never want to get too optimistic, but it went great in practice, especially that second run when the track was rubbery and I thought, ‘Okay, if we can find the balance here for qualifying, this should be very fast.’

“You know, we haven’t had much good going for us lately. This feels great, and every time you’re the first in something in this series it’s special and exciting, and that’s only thanks to Auto-Owners and Bass Pro, and everyone who supports us. We have some work to do tomorrow, but hopefully we can get a win out of it and have a good day.”

NASCAR Cup Series postseason driver Chase Elliott enters Martinsville in a must-win scenario, similar to the one he faced when capturing his only championship in 2020 and will start from the outside of the front row for Sunday’s XFINITY 500.

William Byron enters Martinsville on the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs line with a seven-point lead over teammate Kyle Larson and will start from third after a solid qualifying effort in his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet. Byron is a two-time winner of the Martinsville Spring event.

In the team’s penultimate outing, Chase Briscoe secured a fourth starting spot for Stewart-Haas Racing. Ty Gibbs, another driver eliminated from the postseason, rounded out the top five and qualified fifth.

Harrison Burton, wrapping up his three-season tenure with Wood Brothers Racing, posted a sixth-place qualifying effort, tying the 2022 finale at Phoenix as his best non-superspeedway start in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Alex Bowman and Ryan Preece will share the fourth row of the grid for Sunday’s penultimate event of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, with Kyle Larson, the first driver under the cut, starting ninth. Richmond winner Austin Dillon completed the top 10 in qualifying.

Of the eight drivers still in contention for the championship, five failed to set a time fast enough to progress to the second round of qualifying.

Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney will start from 14th and 15th, respectively. Logano is already locked into Championship 4, with the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion finding himself in a must-win situation.

Christopher Bell did not have the same qualifying pace as his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Martin Truex, Jr., and will start from 16th. Fellow Toyota-backed driver Tyler Reddick will start from a dismal 28th after a terrible lap in Saturday’s qualifying session.

The director in the most dire position, however, is Denny Hamlin. The driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry

Hamlin was at the top of the speed charts at the time of the incident, when the buildup of rubber in the throttle body became stuck, leaving the throttle stuck at number 11. sending him straight into the Turn 3 wall. Fortunately, the Chesterfield, Virginia resident was able to spin the car and crash it into the rear, allowing the car to be recovered for Sunday’s event.

The XFINITY 500 at Martinsville Speedway takes place on Sunday, November 3. Coverage of the event airs at 2:00 PM ET on NBC. Radio broadcasts can be heard on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90).