Martin Truex Jr. earned pole with a 26.718s lap, besting Joey Logano by 0.010s in the final round of qualifying. The veteran driver is set to retire from full-time competition at the end of the year, but he hopes to leave Joe Gibbs Racing with one last checkered flag after going winless through the first 35 races of the year.
Saturday's flyer gave Truex his 25th career pole, stealing a bit of the spotlight from the title challengers.
So, how can it get any better for MTJ? "Win tomorrow," he smiled. "That would be amazing. That's what we've been trying for all year so we'll see how it goes. Obviously, a good job today by all my guys. Feels good to be starting at the front. Hopefully we can finish there."
The track was treacherous throughout qualifying but Truex was one of few who were able to nail a fast lap in both rounds. "Been doing this a while," said Truex about how he managed keep it clean. "Just tried not to overdrive it and hit my marks and was able to do it today. Guys gave me an awesome car so hopefully we can race better than we did at Martinsville with the pole."
Logano's efforts put him on the front row, but he will still have a less than ideal pit stall selection: after failing technical inspection twice, his car chief was ejected and the team was assigned the last stall available.
Ross Chastain qualified third, Kyle Larson fourth, and Chase Elliott fifth. You'd have to look a bit farther back for Logano's fellow Championship 4 drivers with William Byron in eighth and Tyler Reddick in tenth.
Despite leading the way in practice, Ryan Blaney failed to move forward due to a bobble on his first flying lap. He will start 17th, but that's just one row back of where he started last year in his title run.
Round 1
In Group A, Byron topped the charts with a 26.494s lap. Truex, Larson, Ty Gibbs, and Reddick also transferred on. Reddick barely made it through, beating Chase Briscoe by just 0.002s.
Several drivers had skittish moments in Turn 1 including Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez, and Austin Dillon, pushing up the track and losing a considerable amount of time.
The same thing happened in Group B, but ultimately, one car couldn't quite hang on. Josh Berry spun in Turn 1 and tagged the outside wall with the rear. One of those who had an issue in Turn 1 was Blaney himself, who pushed up the track and lose valuable time. He ended up ninth among the group, missing out on advancement by 0.077s.
Fastest in practice, but defending #NASCAR Cup champ @Blaney will have some work to do to win the title on Sunday after this moment in qualifying! 🫣 He starts P1️⃣7️⃣ #Championship4
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) November 9, 2024
🎥 @NASCAR pic.twitter.com/G09rhjzMAe
"Unfortunately, I was one of those drivers who had a problem down there," said Blaney, who starts 17th. "I just got loose and kind of gave all the time up. I thought I got in there okay. I didn't get loose initially and as it loaded, it just stepped out. There was no getting it back after that. I think we'll be fine tomorrow so we'll see if we got a car that can drive towards the front. Proud of the pace we've shown, we just didn't get a good lap."
His Penske teammate Logano led the way in Group B with a 26.509s lap. Elliott, Chastain, Christopher Bell, and Harrison Burton joined him in the pole round.
