Check off the opening item from William Byron’s list for this weekend’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, as the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet scored the pole position for a race, where he finds himself in a must-win situation for his championship hopes.
Starting Lineup: Xfinity 500 at Martinsville
Byron scored his 16th career NASCAR Cup Series pole position, and first at Martinsville Speedway on the strength of a 19.286-second (98.185 mph) lap time. Ty Gibbs, the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, had a solid effort in the session, but clocked in just 0.002 seconds off the pace of Byron’s pole-winning run.
While Byron is pleased he obtained the premier track position to start Sunday’s race, he knows there’s a lot that can happen between Saturday evening and 500 laps in Sunday’s Xfinity 500.
“It’s nice, but it doesn’t count for anything yet,” Byron said of the pole in his post-qualifying press conference.
To his credit, Byron, who has seen back-to-back potential wins end in heartbreaking late-race incidents at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, knows more than most that races aren’t over until you’ve taken the checkered flag.
Kyle Larson, who comes into the weekend 36 points above the cutline, will start from the third position in the Xfinity 500, and he’ll be joined by defending series champion Joey Logano, who will start from the outside of the second row.
Denny Hamlin has nothing to fear in Sunday’s race as he is locked into the field for the Championship 4 by way of his win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but he notched the fifth-place starting spot. However, Hamlin suffered an issue trying to start his car ahead of taking to the track in the session. As a result, his team may need to make unapproved adjustments to his car, which could drop him to the rear prior to the start of the race.
But that’s all still being diagnosed.
Cole Custer, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, and Austin Cindric rounded out the top-10 qualifiers in the session.
All eight Playoff contenders will start Sunday’s race from inside the top-12 starting positions, except for Ryan Blaney, who has won the Xfinity 500 in each of the last two seasons. Blaney will roll from the 31st position on the starting grid after a disappointing qualifying effort.
