MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Martin Truex, Jr. should update his walkup song at driver introductions to “Living on the Edge” by Aerosmith.
The driver of the No. 19 Auto Owners Insurance Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing won the pole Saturday for Sunday’s Xfinity 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
It’s the final cutoff race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and Truex enters the race 17 points below the cutline to advance as one of the final four drivers that will determine the champion in next Sunday’s race at Phoenix International Raceway.
That’s the same deficit Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin is behind Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who is currently fourth in the standings. Round of 8 race winners Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson, as well as Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, lead the field.
Bell and Larson are locked into the Championship 4, while Byron is 30 points above the cutline based on points. Blaney is 10 points ahead of the first driver below the line, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick. Truex and Hamlin are both 17 out and Chris Buescher of RFK Racing is eighth, 43 points below the cutline.
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But Truex has been in this position before — twice in this year’s playoffs, in fact.
He had to sweat it out to advance into the Round of 12 in the first cutoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 16. Three weeks later, he was in the same position at the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and was able to survive and advance into the Round of 8.
He took a major step toward advancing into the Championship 4 by winning the pole at 94.153 mph. That knocked teammate Ty Gibbs off the pole after the grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs completed a fast lap at 94.115 mph in the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota.
Nothing like “Living on the Edge” for the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
“We’ve been living on the edge, that’s for sure,” Truex replied to SPEED SPORT Saturday. “We barely made it through the first two rounds. It’s been tough, for sure. Tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity. We are in a position where we can win the race and see what happens.
“We’ll think about it going into the race and wee what happens. That is what we are going to do on Sunday.”
Truex has three wins at Martinsville Speedway, including the fall race in 2019, the spring race in 2020 and the spring race in 2021. Different years, different cars, however, but all worthwhile in his quest to transfer into the Championship 4.
“We got to a point there with the old car we were pretty confident we had some things that really worked for me, and we used them for a long time, did a lot of fine tuning and tweaking here and there,” Truex explained. “But certainly, learning how to race and learning how to win here, you learn a lot about the track and what it takes.
“Then, they switched the car and it’s been a challenge for us. Last year, we really struggled here, and, in the spring, we were hit and miss throughout the weekend and wound up third at the end. We are still learning things about this car, what I need here and the things that turn the switch for me at the track and do the things I want it to do.
“I don’t know if we are quite there yet, but hopefully tonight we can make some good adjustments and be in the mix all day tomorrow and at the end when it counts is when you need to be up front and dialed in.
“We’ll see if we can make that happen.”
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Chase Briscoe was third in the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford for Stewart Haas Racing at 94.106 mph followed by JGR’s Hamlin in the No. 11 FedEx Toyota at 94.044 mph. Larson was fifth at 93.854 mph in the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
Bell qualified seventh at 93.705 mph in the No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota. Buescher, who needs to win to get in to the final playoff round, will start 18th in the No. 17 Ford for RFK Racing.
“It will be tricky, but I know we’re going to work hard on this Nexletol Ford Mustang to get us in a good place,” Buescher said. “I felt like we made some decent adjustments from practice. We’re just really diving into notes now from the last race here and trying to figure out how to get better, so we’re close on time.
“We’re in the right tenth of a second bracket, but just on the wrong side of it. It’s not that we’re way off here, we just have to make some small changes and be ready to pass some cars.”
Tyler Reddick spun his No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota in practice. He qualified 19th at 93.341 mph.
But up front, Truex is hoping to live on the edge and make it through the next elimination race, one more time in 2023.
“Just kind of par for the course here lately,” he said. “I’ll try to keep my head on straight and do my job. The first pit stall is a huge deal here and hopefully we can use that to our advantage tomorrow.”