NASCAR playoffs at Martinsville starting lineup: Martin Truex Jr. wins pole for second straight week

Truex will start up front as he looks to avoid playoff elimination and advance to Championship 4

By Steven Taranto

Oct 28, 2023 at 4:18 pm ET • 2 min read

Getty Images

RIDGEWAY, Va. -- Martin Truex Jr. won the pole for the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, posting a lap of 20.112 (94.153 mph) in the final round of qualifying Saturday to win his second straight Cup pole and third overall this season. Truex, who enters Sunday's race facing playoff elimination following an engine failure at Homestead, will lead all playoff drivers to the green flag in the Round of 8 elimination race.

Martin Truex Jr wins the pole at Martinsville pic.twitter.com/bFGgexCSug
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) October 28, 2023

On an unseasonably hot day for fall in southern Virginia, Truex was one of four playoff drivers to make the top 10 in qualifying, where he is joined by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in fourth, Kyle Larson in fifth, and Christopher Bell in seventh. While Larson and Bell have already advanced to the Championship 4 by virtue of their wins at Las Vegas and Homestead, both Truex and Hamlin enter Sunday 17 points below the cut line after experiencing separate issues at knocked them both out of last week's race within laps of each other.

Ryan Blaney, who currently holds the final Championship 4 spot by 10 points over Tyler Reddick, just missed out on a top 10 qualifying spot and will roll off 11th on Sunday. He is joined outside the top 10 by William Byron in 16th, Chris Buescher in 18th, and Reddick in 19th -- who spun out in turns 3 and 4 during his Group B qualifying run.

"That's big."

Tyler Reddick will NOT advance to the next round of qualifying, and spins on his second lap. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/v8ruRRdJKM
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 28, 2023

Stewart-Haas Racing enjoyed a solid outing in qualifying, as three of their four drivers -- Chase Briscoe in third, Kevin Harvick in eighth, and Ryan Preece in ninth -- made it to the final round of qualifying. Just missing out on joining them was Aric Almirola in 12th, who announced Saturday morning that he would not return as the driver of the No. 10 car in 2024.