Larson, who was among the first five of the 10 drivers in the final round to qualify, posted an average speed of 96.078 mph to claim the top starting position in Sunday’s playoff elimination race.
Larson has already been eliminated from the 2022 driver’s playoffs but his victory last weekend locked his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team in the owner’s Championship 4 next week at Phoenix.
“I honestly just tried to be smooth and keep traction on the lead, tried to go a little bit harder on my first lap than I did the round before and kind of locked it up so I backed it down the second lap,” Larson said.
“I feel like a lot of times here slower is faster so I just tried to be smooth with it. I’m surprised I did anything good here at Martinsville. Off to a good start so far and hopefully we can keep it going tomorrow.”
Larson said his late-season performance surge doesn’t make him second-guess his playoff season despite being eliminated from the driver’s championship.
“Honestly, I don’t lose any sleep about it at night,” he said. “I got one championship under my belt and going for two the next couple weeks. Maybe not on paper, but I feel like going for the owner’s title is really what’s important.”
Playoff drivers Chase Briscoe and Chase Elliott – who are among seven drivers vying for three spots remaining in the driver’s Championship 4 – ended up tied with identical laps of 95.927 mph.
Elliott will get the second spot by virtue of his team being higher in owner’s points while Briscoe will start third.
Ryan Blaney was fourth and Cole Custer rounded out the top-five.
Completing the top-10 starting lineup are Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez, Kevin Harvick, Ross Chastain and Harrison Burton.
Four playoff drivers failed to advance to the final round of qualifying and will start Sunday’s race outside the top-10.
They are Denny Hamlin (11th), Joey Logano (12th), Christopher Bell (20th) and William Byron (25th). Logano, by virtue of his win at Las Vegas, is the only one locked in the driver’s Championship 4 thus far.
Round 1 / Group B
Briscoe topped the second session with an average lap speed of 96.322 mph, which turned out to be the fastest lap of the day.
Custer ended up second-fastest (96.034 mph) and Burton was third (95.917 mph).
Also advancing to Round 2 from Group B were Harvick and Chastain, who was the last driver to make a qualifying attempt.
Among those who failed to advance out of Group B were playoff drivers Hamlin (who was fastest in practice), Logano and Bell.
Round 1 / Group A
Elliott led the way in the first session with an average lap speed of 96.205 mph, the top speed of the day at the time.
Larson was second (95.961 mph) and Suarez was third (95.762 mph).
Also advancing to the second round were Blaney and Custer.
Among those failing to move on were playoff driver William Byron, Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick.
