HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Martin Truex Jr. is raising his NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs game at just the right time – claiming the pole position in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for Sunday’s 4EVER 400 presented by Mobil 1 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) in Saturday morning qualifying at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Since claiming the 2023 Regular Season Championship, Truex had only earned a single top 10 in the seven playoff races since. The 2017 series champion promised the team was primed to raise its game, with a top 10 last week at Las Vegas and now claiming the top qualifying position with a fast lap of 167.411 mph around the Homestead oval – outdistancing fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace by a slight .313 seconds.
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A previous two-time race winner at the 1.5-mile South Florida track, Truex is poised to reclaim momentum with only two races remaining to set the Championship 4 for the Nov. 5 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
“I felt good coming into this round,” Truex said. “Last week didn’t go quite as good as I had hoped but there was potential there. And coming here I felt good because it’s always been a good track for us. We’ve run up front a lot. It’s just a comfort zone for me, this kind of race track. There’s a confidence there.”
Truex’s only other pole position this season came at Darlington Raceway this spring. The top qualifying position on Saturday is the 22nd of his career.
“I really didn’t expect to get the pole honestly,” he said of his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole position at Homestead. “Even after practice I thought the car was good on the long run and needed to make some tweaks to be better for tomorrow, but pretty excited to be on pole here after that. Didn’t expect it, was hoping for a top five and got a little surprise.”
Wallace’s 23XI Racing teammate Tyler Reddick – also a playoff driver – was third-fastest, giving Toyota a top-three sweep on the grid and the automaker’s seventh pole position in eight playoff races. It is the milestone 500th pole position for the manufacturer in NASCAR’s three national series.
RFK Racing’s owner/driver Brad Keselowski was fourth quickest in his No. 6 Ford with defending race winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, turning in the fifth-fastest lap. Larson, the 2021 series champion, is the only playoff driver who has already earned his position in the Championship 4 after winning at Las Vegas in last week’s Round of 8 opening race.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, Hendrick’s William Byron and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain gave Chevrolet the sixth through eighth starting positions on the grid. Byron is the current championship points leader and a former Homestead race winner.
JGR rookie Ty Gibbs and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney round out the top 10 drivers who advanced to final-round qualifying. Blaney is also a playoff driver.
Three playoff drivers did not advance to the final qualifying round but still turned in solid work. JGR’s Denny Hamlin, who has a record-tying three victories at the track, will roll off 11th. His teammate Christopher Bell, who advanced to the Championship 4 last season, will start 13th and RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher will start 17th on the grid.
While Larson has already secured his automatic bid into the Phoenix finale with his Las Vegas win, the points standings are tightly bunched behind him.
Byron holds a nine-point edge over fifth-place Bell. Truex and Hamlin are both only two points to the good on Bell. Reddick is 16 points off the provisional elimination line, Blaney is 17 points back, and Buescher is only 23 points behind the top four.
“It’s very important because we’re plus-two at this point,” Truex said of continuing to excel in this critical Playoff round. “We can’t afford to give up points. We’ve got to get all we can tomorrow.”
Wallace tops chart in Cup Series practice
Bubba Wallace rose to the top of the NASCAR Cup Series practice leaderboard Saturday morning, leading the way in the tune-up for pole qualifying.
Wallace posted a best lap of 169.088 mph in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota. He was also fastest in the consecutive 10-lap average category.
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A pair of Team Penske Fords were second and third on the practice speed chart, with Austin Cindric clocking a second-fastest lap of 167.999 mph in the No. 2 Mustang. Teammate Ryan Blaney — tops among the eight remaining title-eligible drivers in the Cup Series Playoffs — was third-best in the No. 12 Ford.
Fellow playoff driver Christopher Bell was fourth-fastest, and Michael McDowell completed the top five.
Joey Logano — another Team Penske pilot and last year’s Cup Series champion — crashed during a practice run, severely damaging the front end of the No. 22 Ford after contact with the inside retaining wall on the backstretch. Logano was evaluated and released from the infield care center. His crew unloaded and began to prepare a reserve car as practice wound down.
Contributing: Staff reports