Martin Truex Jr. mastered the track known as the ‘Tricky Triangle’ as he scored pole at Pocono Raceway.
Truex logged a fast lap of 288.465km/h (179.244 mph) in the Furniture Row Racing 78 Toyota on the 2.5-mile track. It is his third pole of the season, his first at Pocono and the 10th of his Sprint Cup career.
“The car felt really good for me today,” said Truex Jr.
“We’ve obviously got speed now we’ll use the rest of the weekend to fine tune some things and get ready for Sunday. Love this track and looking forward to having some fun on Sunday and trying to get to Victory Lane.”
It will be an all Toyota front row with Carl Edwards set to start alongside. Paul Menard, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman completed the top five.
One of the talking points at qualifying was a technical issue with NASCAR’s Laser Inspection Station (LIS).
Qualifying was delayed 20 minutes while the issue was rectified with some cars, including Kyle Busch, only clearing the station after qualifying had begun. Busch will start 16th.
Also in the spotlight once again was “super sub” Jeff Gordon, who is again driving Dale Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Earnhardt Jr. has sat out the previous two races at Loudon and Indianapolis with concussion symptoms. Gordon, a six-time winner at Pocono will start 24th.
QUALIFYING: Pennsylvania 400 – Pocono Raceway
| POS. | CAR # | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | MPH | TIME | GAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr |  |
Furniture Row | 179.244 | 50.211 | Leader |
| 2 | 19 | Carl Edwards | |
Stanley | 178.873 | 50.315 | –0.104 |
| 3 | 27 | Paul Menard |  |
Moen / Menards | 178.671 | 50.372 | –0.161 |
| 4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | |
FedEx Ground | 178.540 | 50.409 | –0.198 |
| 5 | 31 | Ryan Newman | |
Caterpillar | 178.433 | 50.439 | –0.228 |
| 6 | 14 | Tony Stewart | |
Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS | 178.394 | 50.450 | –0.239 |
| 7 | 2 | Brad Keselowski |  |
Alliance Truck Parts | 178.359 | 50.460 | –0.249 |
| 8 | 24 | Chase Elliott | |
NAPA Auto Parts | 177.571 | 50.684 | –0.473 |
| 9 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | |
Dollar General | 177.413 | 50.729 | –0.518 |
| 10 | 22 | Joey Logano | |
Shell Pennzoil | 177.151 | 50.804 | –0.593 |
| 11 | 42 | Kyle Larson | |
Target | 177.082 | 50.824 | –0.613 |
| 12 | 3 | Austin Dillon | |
American Ethanol | 176.835 | 50.895 | –0.684 |
| 13 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | |
Scott Products | 177.322 | 50.755 | –0.544 |
| 14 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | |
Roush Performance Ford Fusion | 177.281 | 50.767 | –0.556 |
| 15 | 41 | Kurt Busch | |
Monster Energy / Haas Automation Chevrolet SS | 177.183 | 50.795 | –0.584 |
| 16 | 18 | Kyle Busch | |
M&M’s 75th Anniversary | 177.054 | 50.832 | –0.621 |
| 17 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | |
Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS | 176.988 | 50.851 | –0.640 |
| 18 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | |
Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire + Auto Center | 176.880 | 50.882 | –0.671 |
| 19 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | |
Cessna / McDonald’s Chevrolet | 176.574 | 50.970 | –0.759 |
| 20 | 13 | Casey Mears | |
GEICO | 176.478 | 50.998 | –0.787 |
| 21 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | |
Lowe’s | 176.091 | 51.110 | –0.899 |
| 22 | 34 | Chris Buescher | |
Dockside Logistics | 176.084 | 51.112 | –0.901 |
| 23 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | |
Great Clips | 175.901 | 51.165 | –0.954 |
| 24 | 88 | Jeff Gordon | |
Nationwide | 175.706 | 51.222 | –1.011 |
| 25 | 16 | Greg Biffle | |
Ford EcoBoost Ford Fusion | 175.603 | 51.252 | –1.041 |
| 26 | 10 | Danica Patrick | |
Mobil 1 Chevrolet SS | 175.404 | 51.310 | –1.099 |
| 27 | 43 | Aric Almirola | |
Smithfield | 174.985 | 51.433 | –1.222 |
| 28 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | |
5-Hour Energy | 174.257 | 51.648 | –1.437 |
| 29 | 95 | Michael McDowell | |
Malwarebytes | 174.236 | 51.654 | –1.443 |
| 30 | 7 | Regan Smith | |
APC Chevrolet | 173.826 | 51.776 | –1.565 |
| 31 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | |
Advocare Ford Fusion | 173.534 | 51.863 | –1.652 |
| 32 | 38 | Landon Cassill | |
MDS Transport | 173.491 | 51.876 | –1.665 |
| 33 | 23 | David Ragan | |
USA Network | 173.077 | 52.000 | –1.789 |
| 34 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | |
E.J. Wade Construction | 172.874 | 52.061 | –1.850 |
| 35 | 44 | Brian Scott | |
Medallion Financial | 172.209 | 52.262 | –2.051 |
| 36 | 98 | Cole Whitt | |
TBD | 171.716 | 52.412 | –2.201 |
| 37 | 32 | Jeb Burton | |
Erie Insurance | 171.429 | 52.500 | –2.289 |
| 38 | 30 | Josh Wise | |
Curtis Key Plumbing | 170.451 | 52.801 | –2.590 |
| 39 | 46 | Michael Annett | |
Allstate Peterbilt Group | 169.750 | 53.019 | –2.808 |
| 40 | 55 | Reed Sorenson | |
VYDOX Plus | 158.615 | 56.741 | –6.530 |
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