Martin Truex Jr. makes his way to the pole in the final start of the Martinsville Cup

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Martinsville Speedway could be Martin Truex Jr.’s final outing at the historic half-mile staple. So it’s only fitting that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will lead the field to the green.

Truex, driving the 19th-ranked Toyota Camry XSE in the Auto Owners Insurance System, set the fastest lap time in Saturday’s final round of single-car qualifying, posting a time of 19.686 seconds (96.190 mph).

This is the third pole position for New Jersey native Mayetta at Martinsville Speedway and the 24th of his career in the NASCAR Cup Series. The No. 19 driver also earned the pole position at the racetrack last fall, leading 47 laps and finishing outside the top 10 in 12th.

The 500-lap event doesn’t mean much to the soon-to-be-retired Truex as he was eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Playoff Series after the three-race opening round, but it’s one of his last chances to be guaranteed a win in his final full-time campaign.

START SITE: 2024 XFINITY 500 at Martinsville

“Yeah, that was (what I meant by wanting to have fun),” Truex said after the qualifying round. “I got a great feel for our car on the stickers. You never want to be too optimistic, but in practice it worked out great, especially in the second run with the rubber track, and I said, “Okay, if we can get the balance right here for qualifying, it should be really quick.”

“You know, we haven’t had anything good lately. It’s great, and any time you’re first in something in this series, it’s special and exciting, and that’s just thanks to Auto-Owners and Bass Pro and everyone who supports us. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow, but hopefully we can get through it and have a good day.”

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

William Byron enters Martinsville on the NASCAR Cup Series playoff line with a seven-point lead over teammate Kyle Larson and will start third after strong qualifying in his No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet. Byron is a two-time winner of the Martinsville Spring Festival.

In the team’s penultimate round, Chase Briscoe managed to record a fourth place start for Stewart-Haas Racing. Ty Gibbs, another driver out of the postseason, rounded out the top five with a fifth-place qualifying finish.

Harrison Burton, who is wrapping up his three-season stint with Wood Brothers Racing, finished sixth in qualifying, matching the 2022 finale in Phoenix as his best non-Superspeedway start in a NASCAR Cup Series.

Alex Bowman and Ryan Preece will share the fourth row on the grid in Sunday’s penultimate event of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, while Kyle Larson, the first driver below the limit, will start ninth. Richmond winner Austin Dillon rounded out the top ten in qualifying.

Of the eight drivers still in contention for the championship, five did not set a fast enough time 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 in the Championship 4, while the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion finds himself in a must-win situation.

Christopher Bell didn’t have the same qualifying pace as his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Martin Truex Jr., and started 16th. Toyota-backed driver Tyler Reddick starts a dismal 28th after a terrible lap in Saturday’s qualifying session.

The driver in the worst position, however, is Denny Hamlin. The driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE will start the field firing in Sunday’s event after crashing – a major one – in the middle of extended practice on Saturday.

Hamlin was at the top of the speed chart at the time of the incident when a rubber coating lodged in the throttle body, causing the throttle to hang on the No. 11, sending him straight into the turn 3 wall. Fortunately, the Chesterfield, Virginia native was able to get the car to spin to hit the rear, saving the car for Sunday’s event.

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