TALLADEGA, Ala– From what seemed to be a slump these last two races in the second round, Martin Truex Jr. has seemed to have found some speed in his No.78, as he wins the Coors Light pole award for Sunday’s Hellman’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, Sirius XM).
Truex, who had some issues in pre qualifying inspection, as NASCAR confiscated a part from the team, appeared to be unphased as they unleashed their speed. Clocking in with the fastest lap the second round, with a time of 49.508 (193.423 mph).
The driver of the No.78 Toyota who is currently 13 points ahead of the cutoff line, is as calm as can be before the madness that is superspeedway racing.
“We in the place to be, to start the race.” Truex said. “I think the key is just trying to stay there for as long as you can. We’ll see what happens, its obviously a big race, a lot on the line but looking forward to it.”
Truex out qualified May winner, Brad Keselowski who posted a time of 49.523 (193.365 mph). For Keselowski, there is a lot on the table on Sunday as he currently finds himself 7 points outside of the top eight in advancement to the third round.
The driver of the No.2 Ford however, is no stranger to winning at Talladega or adversity in an elimination race. He is driving in the chassis that won both here in the spring and Daytona in July, but that doesn’t always mean success Keselowski feels.
“The cars really don’t mean much to me.” Keselowski said. “When you have a team that works on them all the time and they’re always massaging them, they are just not the same. They might be the same chassis, but they might not be the same body or engine. So, I don’t read too much into that, my confidence comes from just having speed.”
There was drama to be had in the first round of qualifying as the cars of Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch all had to be pushed back to the inspection line as NASCAR did not like the rear deck lids on the machines.
All cars passed and cleared inspection but almost forefitting their times as they cut it close with the five minute clock that NASCAR allows for teams to fix their issues before being cleared. With Hamlin and Kenseth being making it to round two, as Kyle qualified 14th.
Rounding out the rest of the top five include, Matt Kenseth in third, Chase Elliott, who is in a must win situation, qualifies fourth and Greg Biffle, with his best qualifying effort since starting on the pole at Daytona in July, will start fifth.
Rounding out the rest of the top 12 include, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in sixth, with Chaser Kurt Busch in seventh, Denny Hamlin, after a frantic round one, qualifies in eighth, with Austin Dillon in ninth, Paul Menard tenth, Trevor Bayne in a solid 11th place qualifying run and Reed Sorenson, who astonished everyone and won the first round of qualifying, will start from the 12th position. The best qualifying effort that Premium Motorsports has ever had and his best start since the 2007 Brickyard 400.
Failing to qualify for the race is the No.38 of David Gilliland.
