Martin Truex Jr. flaunted his speed to the NASCAR Cup Series field during qualifying at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday morning, turning a fast lap of 32.256 seconds (167.411 mph).
The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, who is ranked third in the Round of 8, will start on the front row of Sunday’s 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Truex’s pole award is the 500th for Toyota in NASCAR, across all three series.
“Coming here, I felt good coming in as it’s a good track for us and we’ve always run well here. It’s just a comfort zone for me. I had confidence coming in here but didn’t expect to get the pole. After practice, our car felt good in the long run, but pretty excited to be on the pole here. Always good when things go the right way,” Truex said.
23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace will start alongside Truex following his second-place qualifying effort, with a 32.313-second lap (167.115 mph) in his No. 23 Toyota. Teammate Tyler Reddick, who is ranked sixth in the playoffs, qualified third in his No. 45 entry, recording a best lap of 32.344 seconds (166.955 mph). Â
RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski was fourth fastest, while last week’s winner and playoff points leader Kyle Larson was fifth in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Austin Dillon, William Byron (ranked second in the Round of 8), Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Ryan Blaney (ranked seventh) completed the top 10.Â
The three remaining playoff drivers fell outside the top 10.
Denny Hamlin qualified 11th, Christopher Bell was 13th and Chris Buescher was 17th.