JOLIET, Ill. — Needing a win to make the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series playoffs, Ryan Truex got his quest to accomplish that goal off to the best possible start by scoring his first-career pole Friday at Chicagoland Speedway.

Truex posted a fast lap of 30.685 seconds (175.982 mph) around the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval, leading both rounds of knockout qualifying in advance of the TheHouse.com 225 (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).

His brother, Martin Truex Jr., enters Sunday’s playoff opener for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Chicagoland as the No. 1 seed in the premier series.

The younger Truex will be joined on the front row by Brad Keselowski Racing’s Chase Briscoe, who led the Ford contingent in qualifying and will start second with a lap of 30.701 seconds (175.890 mph).

Regular season points leader Christopher Bell will roll off third (30.795/175.353), ahead of former series champions Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton.

Rookie Noah Gragson tied Crafton’s 30.943-second lap but is lower in owner points — starting sixth as a result — with Austin Cindric, Grant Enfinger, Justin Haley, Myatt Snider, Cody Coughlin and John Hunter Nemechek completing the dozen drivers who made it through both knockout rounds.

Ben Rhodes was the first driver below the cut line at the end of the first round of qualifying, timing in 13th-quick with a lap of 31.149 seconds (173.360 mph) in the No. 27 Safelite Auto Glass Toyota.

Playoff contender Kaz Grala, who locked himself into the postseason with a season-opening win at Daytona, was also eliminated early after a lap of 31.155 seconds (173.327 mph) in his No. 33 Chevrolet and will start 14th.

Other notables starting deep in the field include Regan Smith (16th), Austin Wayne Self (18th), Joe Nemechek (20th) and Jordan Anderson (21st).

Full qualifying results can be viewed on the next page…