Truex Jr. Scores First Pole With JGR

Martin Truex Jr. earned his first career pole with Joe Gibbs Racing during Saturday’s qualifying session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Ambetter 301.

The pole would be the 20th of his career, and the first since 2018 at Kentucky Speedway, with Furniture Row Racing.

Click here for qualifying results.

Truex edged out points leader Chase Elliott for the top spot with a best lap of 127.113 mph.

“Really just proud of everybody on the team. We’ve had an up and down year, and we’ve been just digging, clawing, scratching and fighting,” Truex said. “Just proud of James (Small, Crew Chief) and everyone. This track has always been a special one for me. We certainly didn’t come here expecting to have this kind of speed. Just really proud of everybody. First time having Interstate Batteries on the car, (I’m) excited about all those folks joining our team.

“It’s going to be very difficult pass, kind of seen it in practice,” Truex continued. “I kind of caught a guy, and I just kept slowing down the more he slowed down. So, track position will be huge. Our pit crew’s really come a long way since the beginning of the year, so we’re going to really need to lean on them tomorrow.”

Elliott, who kept his streak of three consecutive front row starts alive, was surprised how close he was to pole.

“I was shocked that we were second, and shocked it held on that long,” Elliott said. “Those guys ran 70s in that first round, and I barely ran a flat, so I thought for sure they would go closer to what they ran that first round. So, really proud of our NAPA team today. It’s not been super pretty, but I feel like we’ve learned a couple things.”

It was a stellar day for 23XI Racing, with Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace qualifying third and fourth, respectively. The other Toyota driver to qualify in the top ten was Christopher Bell, after slotting into 5th,

Elliott’s teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron were the next in line from the Hendrick Motorsports brigade, with Byron in 6th, and the defending champion in 8th.

The lone Hendrick Chevrolet outside the top ten was Alex Bowman, who struggled in qualifying and will start 27th.

Defending New Hampshire race winner Aric Almirola qualified 7th, in what will be his final NASCAR Cup Series season.

RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski earned his best qualifying result since Sonoma in June (10th), where he qualified 9th for Sunday’s race.