Martin Truex Jr. will start from the front of the field in the final start of his last full-time NASCAR Cup Series season. While it would be a fitting tribute to the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion if it was a coordinated pre-race festivity, Truex secured the chance to pace the field ahead of Sunday’s race by taking the pole position.
Truex turned a 26.718 seconds (134.741 mph) lap time in the final round of Saturday’s qualifying session, which was enough for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to nab the pole by a mere 0.010 seconds over Joey Logano, one of the four Championship 4 contenders.
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For Truex, a native of Mayetta, New Jersey, the pole-winning run is his second consecutive pole, and it’s the 25th of his NASCAR Cup Series career, and it comes in his 693rd career start.
“It’s very cool,” Truex said. “Obviously, you always want to be known as a guy that can go fast at any track, any situation. Pressure is always pretty high in qualifying. You know you’ve got to go out there and nail that perfect lap. You’ve only got one shot at it these days.”
While Truex’s pole position is a cool story, it’ll serve as a cliff note for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race weekend at Phoenix Raceway, as the focus will be on the battle for the Bill France Cup.
After qualifying, Logano will roll from the starting grid with the advantage of track position as he will start from the outside of the front row next to Truex. Logano, who many have said doesn’t deserve to be in the Championship 4 due to his overall weaker performance than the others through the entirety of the 2024 season, feels he is now the man to beat for the championship.
“Yeah, yeah I do,” Logano stated with confidence. “I feel like our car is strong. We did a good job with qualifying. We got them down now, we just have to put our foot on their throats. We feel pretty strong about our team, and these type of pressure situations, we feel really solid about as far as our team in these moments. Yeah, we’re just executing our plan. We’ve had two weeks to put the plan together, and we’re executing it the best we can, now.”
William Byron, who is seeking his first career NASCAR Cup Series championship, will start from the eighth position, Tyler Reddick, who is looking not only for his first title but the first one for his 23XI Racing team as well, will start 10th, and Ryan Blaney will look to win back-to-back championships from the 17th position.
While Blaney’s starting spot may be jarring to see, the driver started 15th, which was the lowest of any Championship 4 contender a season ago on his path to the championship.
Lining up behind the front row of Truex and Logano will be Ross Chastain in third, and Kyle Larson in fourth.
Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Byron, Harrison Burton, and Reddick will round out the top-10 qualifiers for Sunday’s Championship race.
The lone incident in the qualifying session came in the form of a spin by Josh Berry, who drives the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Berry backed slightly into the outside wall, and will start 39th in the 40-car field as a result of the spin.
