Chase Elliott won his 10th career Cup Series pole and his first at Martinsville Speedway. The 96.151 mph lap in the final round of qualifying Friday afternoon (April 8) marks his first pole since March 2020.
With one career Cup victory at Martinsville already, Elliott will lead the field to green for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400.
Aric Almirola will start alongside Elliott outside of the front row, as he tied his best qualifying effort at Martinsville and records his best start of the 2022 season.
Cole Custer qualified third after posting the fastest time in Group B and Chris Buescher qualified fourth.
William Byron rounded out the top five. Byron won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Thursday night (April 7).
Kevin Harvick was the fastest qualifier in Group A and qualified sixth in the final round, giving Stewart-Haas Racing three cars in the top half-dozen.
Starting in sixth tomorrow night at @MartinsvilleSwy, @KevinHarvick said that’s “a win” because it “just makes the first part of the race a lot more comfortable” re: track position.
3 @StewartHaasRcng in the top 10: “We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.” pic.twitter.com/DVB0DRSsR3
— Davey Segal (@DaveyCenter) April 8, 2022
Christopher Bell was the fastest Toyota in seventh, while Kyle Larson qualified eighth and Brad Keselowski qualified ninth.
Todd Gilliland surprisingly advanced into the final round, and he will start 10th on Saturday night with his first-ever Cup start inside the top 20.
There were several surprising misses during the first round, as Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch all missed the cut for the final round. For Busch, he had missed out on the final transfer spot in Group B by one one-thousandth of a second over Buescher.
Full Qualifying Results
The Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 will take place on Saturday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET with TV coverage provided by FOX Sports 1.
Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly columns include “Stat Sheet” and “4 Burning Questions.” He also writes commentary, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.
Can find on Twitter @stephen_stumpf.