Chase Elliott claimed the pole for Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
The 2020 Cup champion bested Aric Almirola with a top speed of 96.151 mph to earn the 10th pole of his career.
Almirola’s speed was 95.641 mph.
“It honestly surprised me that it was that fast,” Elliott told Fox Sports 1. “I didn’t really expect it to be in the (19.6-second range). … Nice to grab a pole. It’s been a while.”
Elliott’s last time on the pole was for the spring 2020 race at Phoenix Raceway for a 75-race gap.
The top five was completed by Cole Custer, Chris Buescher and William Byron.
Click here for the qualifying results.
Click here for the starting lineup.
It’s the first top-10 start of the year for Buescher outside the Daytona 500.
Rounding out the top 10 is Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell (the only Joe Gibbs Racing car in the top 10), Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski and rookie Todd Gilliland. Gilliland, who has a Truck Series win at Martinsville, had a previous best start of 22nd before making the final round of qualifying Friday.
Practice
Before qualifying the Cup Series held two 20-minute practice sessions.
Overall, Elliott posted the best speed at 94.704 mph around the half-mile track.
He was followed by Kyle Busch (94.529 mph) and Bubba Wallace (94.5) who was fastest in the first session.
The top five was completed by Alex Bowman and Bell.
Larson had the best 10-lap average at 94.064 mph.