Joey Logano led a Ford charge in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Martinsville speedway on Saturday, winning the pole with a speed of 97.830 mph.
Aric Almirola will start on the outside of the front row. Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick will take up the second row. Denny Hamlin was the only non-Ford driver to crack the top 5.
William Byron’s last-second run made him the top Chevrolet driver in sixth. Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex, Jr. and Kurt Busch round out the top 10, with Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson posting the 11th and 12-place runs respectively to finish out the final round.
Hamlin led the way in Round 1, posting a speed of 97.835 mph to top Keselowski, Almirola, Harvick and Larson. Stenhouse, Jr. and Michael McDowell waged a last-second battle to advance to Round 2, with McDowell procuring the 24th and final spot.
Stenhouse had posted a top-10 speed earlier in the round but it was disallowed by NASCAR after he sped on pit road, testing a new regulation for the first time since it was implemented. Neither Corey LaJoie nor Cody Ware made a lap after suffering damage in practice and will start 35th and 36th respectively.
Round 2 was all about Hamlin again as he posted a top speed of 97.683 to take that round as well. Harvick, Almirola, Elliott and Larson took the top 5 spots.
Notably failing to advance to the final round was Truck Series winner Kyle Busch, who will start 14th on Sunday.
WDUN will carry live MRN radio coverage of Sunday's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 from Martinsville Speedway beginning at 1 pm on WDUN 102.9 FM, AM 550 or streaming live on AccessWDUN.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, VA
STP 500 – March 23, 2019
Unofficial Qualifying Results
1. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 97.830 mph.
2. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 97.643 mph.
3. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 97.458 mph.
4. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 97.382 mph.
5. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 97.362 mph.
6. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 97.202 mph.
7. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 97.098 mph.
8. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 97.053 mph.
9. (19) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 97.018 mph.
10. (41) Daniel Suarez, Ford, 96.830 mph.
11. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 96.706 mph.
12. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 96.573 mph.
13. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 96.755 mph.
14. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 96.716 mph.
15. (21) Paul Menard, Ford, 96.696 mph.
16. (47) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 96.671 mph.
17. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 96.647 mph.
18. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 96.602 mph.
19. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 96.602 mph.
20. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 96.499 mph.
21. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford, 96.484 mph.
22. (95) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 96.465 mph.
23. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 96.357 mph.
24. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 96.146 mph.
25. (17) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 96.298 mph.
26. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 96.107 mph.
27. (43) Darrell Wallace, Jr., Chevrolet, 95.917 mph.
28. (00) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 95.709 mph.
29. (8) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 95.603 mph.
30. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 95.569 mph.
31. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 95.415 mph.
32. (36) Matt Tifft #, Ford, 95.415 mph.
33. (52) Jeb Burton(i), Chevrolet, 94.689 mph.
34. (77) D.J. Kennington(i), Chevrolet, 94.618 mph.
35. (32) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 0.000 mph.
36. (51) Cody Ware #, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
