Martin Truex Jr. wins pole award ahead of Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway
For the second week in a row, Martin Truex Jr. lands the pole award. Is Truex on his way to his fourth career win at Martinsville? We’ve seen the 19 team dominate NASCAR races this season. With a great starting position for Sunday, he might be on his way to another.
Martin Truex Jr. was able to just edge out Ty Gibbs to take the pole award. After his pole last week, Truex failed to find his long-run speed. Then, his engine gave out on him. This week, he’s hoping that he can finish where he starts and take the checkered flag and his spot in Phoenix.
Martinsville is always exciting this time of the season. We will see what the other drivers do to try and take Truex Jr. off the top spot.
Martin Truex Jr. doesn’t need a lot to win a race. He really just needs to have a car with some half-decent speed most of the time. If we don’t see Truex fall into the back of the top-10 after the first green flag run of this race, that will tell us a lot about what we need to know.
Toyota was fairly strong in the qualifying session. Truex Jr. was just the best of the group.
The rest of the top-10 in qualifying: Ty Gibbs, Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Preece, and Brad Keselowski.
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There are few tracks that mean as much as Martinsville. NASCAR has kept the importance of the track high. Making it the elimination race right before the championship has just made it even more exciting.
A year ago, we know what we saw. Ross Chastain, Hail Melon. Christopher Bell, a walk-off win. It’s just a track and situation that produces high-pressure moments. That’s when these drivers are at their best.
Martin Truex Jr. is 17 points below the cutline, but optimistic. He needs points and possibly even a win to advance to Phoenix. Right now, he’s in a great spot to do what he needs to do. However, he still has to perform. His pit crew has to perform. And, the crew chief has to perform.
With Martin Truex Jr. up front to start, it will be very interesting if he has a car like he had at Dover or Sonoma or New Hampshire. Is this another Martin win at Martinsville?