It didn’t take long for Martin Truex Jr. to rebound from last Sunday’s disappointment at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway when he got knocked out of the Chase due to an engine failure.
Truex, driving the No. 78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota-powered Camry, captured the pole for Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
It was the second straight pole for Truex and his fifth of the season. Last week he took the No. 1 spot at NASCAR’s longest track (Talladega, 2.66 miles) and on Friday he was the top qualifier at NASCAR’s shortest track (Martinsville, 0.526 mile).
When asked how he felt after winning the pole a giddy Truex said, “Super excited!”
Truex progressively got faster during the three rounds of qualifying. He was third fastest in the first round (19.365 second at 97.785 mph), second fastest in Round 2 (19.298 at 98.124) and in the pole shootout round he kicked it up another notch — 19.282 at 98.206 — to claim his first career pole at Martinsville.
“I keep saying there’s no quit in this Furniture Row Racing team,” said Truex. “What happened last week at Talladega hurt, but to come back like we did today shows the true character of this team. We don’t look back, we move on.”
Truex added, “I’ve been second (qualifier) here a few times. This place is so tough and that first pit stall is just so critical to having a shot at winning here. I would love to get my first grandfather clock (winning trophy). All in all, just proud of the guys for coming here with a game plan and executing.”
Positions 2-12 went to: Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, AJ Allmendinger, Chase Elliott, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Larson and David Ragan.
Sunday’s race will be televised on the NBC Sports Network, 11 a.m. MT (1 p.m. ET).