NASCAR News: Truex Jr. wins Cup pole at Martinsville

Entering the penultimate race of his full-time career in the NASCAR Cup Series, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. won the Busch Light Pole Award for Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

The driver of the No. 19 Toyota set the quickest lap at 96.190 mph, besting speeds set by Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott (95.840 mph) and William Byron (95.951 mph).

Chase Briscoe (95.796 mph) and Ty Gibbs (95.912 mph) rounded out the top five.

Harrison Burton (95.603 mph), Alex Bowman (95.908 mph), Ryan Preece (95.487 mph), Kyle Larson (95.593 mph) and Austin Dillon (95.367 mph) completed the top 10.

Before snagging the pole in qualifying, Martin Truex Jr. topped the leaderboard in practice at 95.070 mph over Corey LaJoie (94.989 mph) and Denny Hamlin (94.884 mph).

Christopher Bell (94.855 mph) and Chase Elliott (94.836 mph) rounded out the top five.

Ty Gibbs (94.789 mph), Chase Briscoe (94.689 mph), Todd Gilliland (94.685 mph), Austin Dillon (94.482 mph) and Daniel Suárez (94.463 mph) completed the top 10.

Playoff driver Hamlin entered Martinsville 18 points below the elimination line, but his path to the Championship 4 got tougher as the No. 11 JGR Toyota crashed in Turn 3 during practice.

Hamlin told his crew on the radio that the throttle stuck which caused him to spin and back his car into the wall. He will start Sunday’s Xfinity 500 from the back of the field after skipping qualifying for his team to repair the rear damage.

A look at the incident. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/Mcl4hNoFZw

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 2, 2024

Martinsville NASCAR Cup Starting Grid