In the thick of NASCAR playoff fight, Byron captures first Cup pole position at Martinsville

Audio By Carbonatix

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — William Byron picked a good time for his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole at Martinsville Speedway, qualifying first for a race that he is treating as a must-win.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver, who is among six playoff drivers battling to claim the final two spots in the Championship 4 season finale, turned a lap of 19.286 seconds (98.185 mph) in his No. 24 Chevrolet to nip Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota by two thousandths of a second on the 0.526-mile oval.

Kyle Larson qualified third, followed by Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin as playoff drivers took four of the top five starting positions for Sunday’s 500-lap race.

Larson and Christopher Bell, who qualified 12th, both are comfortably above the points cutline and could advance to the Nov. 2 title round at Phoenix Raceway with solid finishes at Martinsville.

Byron likely needs a win to reach the Championship 4 for the third consecutive year, and the two-time Martinsville winner positioned himself well with his third pole this season at a track where his previous best starting spot was third.

“It’s great; it’s not the race, though,” Byron said about his 16th career pole and first in 26 races. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, but it feels nice. We usually struggle to qualify well here. Just excited for (Sunday). It’s a big challenge, and that’s what counts. After 500 laps, we’ll see how we are.”

Also in must-win territory are Logano, Chase Elliott, who will start eighth, and Ryan Blaney, who qualified a disappointing 31st in pursuit of his third consecutive victory in the third-round cutoff race at Martinsville.

Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota initially failed to start on its qualifying run and needed a push from several team members to get the engine fired. It’s at least the third mechanical problem during the playoffs for Hamlin, who had issues with power steering at Kansas Speedway and a stuck throttle at Talladega Superspeedway.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was optimistic that he wouldn’t forfeit his Martinsville starting spot by making an unapproved adjustment before Sunday’s race.

“You’ve got to know what the problem is before you can fix it," he said, "and I don’t think we know what the problem is.”

Hamlin could take solace in already having advanced to the championship round with his Oct. 12 victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. JGR teammate Chase Briscoe, who qualified ninth at Martinsville, joined Hamlin in the Championship 4 with his victory last Sunday at Talladega.

__

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing