“Yeah, that was (what I meant by wanting to have fun),” Truex said after his qualifying lap. “I felt very good about our car on the stickers. You never want to be too optimistic, but it worked really well in practice, especially on that second stint with the rubberized track and I thought, ‘Alright, if we can get the balance here for qualifying, this should be really fast.’”

“You know, we haven’t had a lot of good things going for us lately. This feels amazing, and every time you’re the first in something in this series it’s special and exciting, and only thanks to Auto-Owners and Bass Pro, and everyone who supports us. We have work to do tomorrow, but I hope we can move forward and have a good day.”

NASCAR Cup Series playoff driver Chase Elliott comes to Martinsville in a must-win scenario similar to the one he faced when capturing his only championship in 2020 and will start on the outside of the front row for Sunday’s XFINITY 500.

William Byron enters Martinsville on the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff cut line, with a seven-point lead over teammate Kyle Larson, and will start from third place after a solid qualifying effort in his No. Chevrolet. .24 from Liberty University. Byron is a two-time winner of the Martinsville spring event.

In the team’s penultimate start, Chase Briscoe managed to record a fourth place start for Stewart-Haas Racing. Ty Gibbs, another driver who has been eliminated from the postseason, rounded out the top five and qualified fifth.

Harrison Burton, concluding his three-season tenure with Wood Brothers Racing, posted a sixth-place finish in the standings, tying the 2022 finale at Phoenix as his best start away from a racetrack in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Alex Bowman and Ryan Preece will share the fourth row on the grid for Sunday’s penultimate event of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, with Kyle Larson, the first driver below the cut line, starting ninth. Richmond winner Austin Dillon rounded out the top 10 in the standings.

Of the eight drivers still in the championship fight, five failed to set a time fast enough to advance to the second round of qualifying.

Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney will start 14th and 15th, respectively. Logano is already locked into the Championship 4, while the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion finds himself in a must-win situation.

Christopher Bell did not have the same qualifying pace as his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Martin Truex, Jr., and will start from 16th. Tyler Reddick, another Toyota-backed driver, will start from a dismal 28th, after a horrendous lap in Saturday’s qualifying session.

However, the driver in the most serious situation is Denny Hamlin. The driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry

Hamlin was at the top of the speed charts at the time of the incident, when rubber buildup became trapped in the throttle body, forcing the throttle to hang on the No. 11. sending him straight into the turn 3 wall. Fortunately, the Chesterfield, Virginia, native was able to cause the car to spin and impact the rear, allowing the car to be salvageable for Sunday’s event.

The XFINITY 500 at Martinsville Speedway will take place on Sunday, November 3. Coverage of the event will be on NBC at 2:00 pm Eastern time. Radio broadcasts can be heard on Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).