Truex Earns Second 1.5-Mile Pole At Charlotte

Martin Truex Jr. will lead the field of 40 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers to the green flag for the Coca-Cola 600. The driver of the No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota for Furniture Row Racing earned his second pole of the season at Charlotte Motor Speedway, located in the suburb of Concord, NC. His first came a few weeks ago at Kansas, also a 1.5-mile oval.

In the first qualifying round, the Mayetta, NJ native finished 12th with a 28.383 seconds, 190.255 MPH. He improved to fifth in round two with run 28.229 seconds, 191.293 MPH. It was a lap time of 28.077 seconds, 192.328 MPH that helped Truex Jr. secure his ninth career pole in the final round.

Truex Jr. is still yet to win a race this year but in his post-qualifying press conference, he pointed out that he and his team just need to continue what they are doing. “We’ve been so good and we’ve really had a great season,” Truex Jr. said. “We don’t have a lot to show for it, but we’ve got a lot of confidence and a lot of momentum and fast race cars. Hopefully we can get to victory lane here soon.”

Joey Logano led rounds one and two with times of 28.224 and 28.159 seconds each. The driver of the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford earned the other front-row starting position with a 28.124 second run in the final round.

Logano is hoping to capitalize on last week’s All-Star victory. “That definitely gives us momentum for us and the 22 team in particular,” he said of the win during a post-qualifying press conference.

The Team Penske driver also likes his confidence going into the 600-mile, 400-lap race. “Going into last weekend we came off three crashes in a row,” Logano said “That confidence gets killed in those moments. I think our team is a lot stronger than that, but it is nice to break through after three tough weekends and be able to break through and get that first victory of the year. Even though it was the All-Star Race and it didn’t count for points, we really want to win this Coca-Cola 600. It’s been a long time since a Coca-Cola driver has won one of these things, so as a Coke family member I want to make that happen, and I feel like I’ve got a good car so far in practice.”

Driving for Roush-Fenway Racing, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. stayed solid throughout the three rounds. Round one saw the No. 17 Fastenal Ford driver in fourth with a lap time of 28.306 seconds. He then moved up a spot in round two with a 28.185-second run. Stenhouse Jr. was a little slower in round three with a time of 28.209 seconds but it still got him a third-position start.

Coca-Cola 600 coverage begins at 5:30 PM ET on your local FOX television station. Radio listeners can tune in to PRN/Sirius XM Channel 90.

Qualifying Results

Round 1

  1. Joey Logano
  2. Ryan Blaney
  3. Kurt Busch

Round 2

  1. Joey Logano
  2. Greg Biffle
  3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Round 3 & Top 10 Starters

  1. Martin Truex Jr.
  2. Joey Logano
  3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  4. Denny Hamlin
  5. Brad Keselowski
  6. Greg Biffle
  7. Jimmie Johnson
  8. Kevin Harvick
  9. Carl Edwards
  10. Trevor Bayne
Katie Williams
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