Martin Truex Jr. grabs Busch Light Pole for final full-time race of career

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Retiring veteran Martin Truex Jr. claimed the Busch Light Pole Award for his last race as a full-time competitor, besting the field in qualifying for Sunday‘s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Peacock).

The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will start on the front row alongside Team Penske‘s Joey Logano, the top qualifying championship contender. Logano‘s No. 22 Ford was a slight .010 seconds slower than Truex‘s Camry in Saturday‘s qualifying session around the desert one-miler.

“It‘s very cool, honestly, you always want to be a guy known for going fast at any track, any situation,” said Truex, who claimed the pole with a lap of 134.741 mph and is racing for his first victory of the season. “It feels good, very cool. The big prize is tomorrow though and hopefully, we can get that one.”

Logano, who is racing for his third series title, was equally as happy with his effort and the championship implications.

“We‘ve got them where we want ‘em right now, just got to keep them there,” Logano said smiling.

Three of the four championship-eligible drivers advanced to the final round of qualifying for the season finale. Hendrick Motorsports‘ William Byron will start his No. 24 Chevrolet from eighth position and 23XI Racing‘s Tyler Reddick will start his No. 45 Toyota 10th.

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Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney was the only driver among the four title contenders not to advance out of the opening round, his No. 12 Team Penske Ford got loose between Turns 1 and 2 on his hot lap and he will start 17th in the 40-car field.

Because Logano‘s car had to go through inspection two extra times before passing, he lost the benefit of getting to select his pit stop and his car chief was ejected for the race. He did not appear to be overly concerned, however.

“We feel confident,” Logano said. “I feel like our car is strong.

“We feel strong about our team and these type of pressure situations, we feel very solid as far as our team and these moments. We‘re just executing our plan.”

His Penske teammate Blaney also remained confident despite the qualifying setback.

“Our lap obviously didn‘t go well, I just got kind of free going into [turn] one and ruined it all and couldn‘t really make it back up,” Blaney said. “I‘m surprised honestly it ran as well as it did for as loose as I got. I think our car is pretty good and still nice to have a decent pit stall.

“We‘ll just kind of take it how we can get it tomorrow, just work through the first handful of laps and kinda start marching forward. Pretty similar to last year, hopefully, it ends the same. If we can charge through the field, I think our race car is good enough we can make that happen.”

Byron was pleased to get that first pit stall pick with his qualifying effort but had hoped to turn a faster lap. He was quickest in the opening round.

“Sucks didn‘t just quite get the lap I wanted in the second lap but feel really good about our race car and get first pit pick and that‘s huge. Really excited about those things and just want to put together a good start to the race. It‘s such a long race, it‘s really about getting to the finish and having what you need there.”

Trackhouse Racing‘s Ross Chastain and Hendrick Motorsports‘ Kyle Larson will start third and fourth. Hendrick‘s Chase Elliott and Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Ty Gibbs make up the third row.

Christopher Bell and Byron will line up alongside one another on the fourth row, with Wood Brothers Racing‘s Harrison Burton and Reddick completing row five.