Kyle Larson beats Bubba Wallace to Martinsville Cup pole by 0.001s

Larson, the last of 10 cars in the final round of Saturday’s qualifying, just nipped Bubba Wallace on his second lap to grab the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race.

It was 40 years ago at the spring Martinsville race that Geoffrey Bodine won the first Cup race for team owner Rick Hendrick, which kept his fledgling organization in business and evoled into one of NASCAR’s most successful teams.

Larson, who drives the No. 5 Chevrolet for HMS, had an average lap speed of 96.034 mph, just edging Wallace (96.029 mph) – a difference of one thousandth of a second.

The pole is the second for Larson this season, 18th of his career and second at Martinsville.

“That was a bit unexpected,” Larson said. “I knew we would be good but wasn’t sure we’d be that good. It’s really cool to his (car) on the pole for Hendrick’s 40th anniversary.

“It looks like all four Hendrick cars are good, too. It’s a great day for the organization. We just got to execute in the race.”

Larson’s Hendrick teammate, Chase Elliott, will line up third, Martin Truex Jr. fourth and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top five.

Completing the top-10 starting lineup are Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and HMS driver Alex Bowman.

CLA	DRIVER	#	MANUFACTURER	LAPS	TIME	INTERVAL	MPH
1	K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	5	Chevrolet	2	19.718		96.034
2	B. Wallace23XI RACING	23	Toyota	2	+0.001 19.719	0.001	96.029
3	C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	9	Chevrolet	2	+0.034 19.752	0.033	95.869
4	M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING	19	Toyota	2	+0.035 19.753	0.001	95.864
5	C. BriscoeSTEWART-HAAS RACING	14	Ford	2	+0.042 19.760	0.007	95.830
6	J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE	22	Ford	2	+0.046 19.764	0.004	95.811
7	J. BerrySTEWART-HAAS RACING	4	Ford	2	+0.047 19.765	0.001	95.806
8	D. HamlinJOE GIBBS RACING	11	Toyota	2	+0.061 19.779	0.014	95.738
9	R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE	12	Ford	2	+0.098 19.816	0.037	95.559
10	A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	48	Chevrolet	2	+0.113 19.831	0.015	95.487

Round 1 / Group B

Larson, the last car to go out in Group B, shot to the top of the speed chart with an average lap speed of 96.293 mph.

Elliott ended up second fastest (96.293 mph) while Hamlin was third (96.249 mph).

Also advancing to the final round of qualifying from Group B were Berry and Logano.

Among those who failed to move on were Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Ty Gibbs and Daniel Suarez.

CLA	DRIVER	#	MANUFACTURER	LAPS	TIME	INTERVAL	MPH
1	K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	5	Chevrolet	2	19.641		96.411
2	C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	9	Chevrolet	2	+0.024 19.665	0.024	96.293
3	D. HamlinJOE GIBBS RACING	11	Toyota	2	+0.033 19.674	0.009	96.249
4	J. BerrySTEWART-HAAS RACING	4	Ford	2	+0.059 19.700	0.026	96.122
5	J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE	22	Ford	2	+0.088 19.729	0.029	95.981
6	K. BuschRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING	8	Chevrolet	2	+0.132 19.773	0.044	95.767
7	B. KeselowskiRFK RACING	6	Ford	2	+0.184 19.825	0.052	95.516
8	T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING	54	Toyota	2	+0.193 19.834	0.009	95.472
9	E. JonesLEGACY MOTOR CLUB	43	Toyota	2	+0.202 19.843	0.009	95.429
10	T. Reddick23XI RACING	45	Toyota	2	+0.216 19.857	0.014	95.362
11	D. SuarezTRACKHOUSE RACING	99	Chevrolet	2	+0.245 19.886	0.029	95.223
12	R. Stenhouse JrJTG DAUGHERTY RACING	47	Chevrolet	2	+0.285 19.926	0.040	95.032
13	C. HocevarSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	77	Chevrolet	1	+0.305 19.946	0.020	94.936
14	J. HaleyRICK WARE RACING	51	Ford	2	+0.327 19.968	0.022	94.832
15	J. NemechekLEGACY MOTOR CLUB	42	Toyota	2	+0.404 20.045	0.077	94.467
16	K. GralaRICK WARE RACING	15	Ford	2	+0.532 20.173	0.128	93.868
17	J. WilliamsKAULIG RACING	16	Chevrolet	2	+0.541 20.182	0.009	93.826
18	M. McDowellFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS	34	Ford	2	+0.567 20.208	0.026	93.705
19	D. StarrPOWER SOURCE	66	Ford	2	+1.468 21.109	0.901	89.706

Round 1 / Group A

Wallace was one of the few drivers to pick up significantly on their second lap and led the way in the first group with an average lap speed of 95.646 mph.

Briscoe was second fastest (95.646 mph) while Bowman ended up third (95.228 mph).

Also advancing to the final round of qualifying from Group A were Truex and Blaney.

Among those who failed to move on were Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain and William Byron.

CLA	DRIVER	#	MANUFACTURER	LAPS	TIME	INTERVAL	MPH
1	B. Wallace23XI RACING	23	Toyota	2	19.798		95.646
2	C. BriscoeSTEWART-HAAS RACING	14	Ford	2	+0.072 19.870	0.072	95.299
3	A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	48	Chevrolet	2	+0.087 19.885	0.015	95.228
4	M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING	19	Toyota	1	+0.090 19.888	0.003	95.213
5	R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE	12	Ford	2	+0.115 19.913	0.025	95.094
6	A. CindricTEAM PENSKE	2	Ford	2	+0.120 19.918	0.005	95.070
7	R. ChastainTRACKHOUSE RACING	1	Chevrolet	2	+0.120 19.918	0.000	95.070
8	T. GillilandFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS	38	Ford	2	+0.123 19.921	0.003	95.055
9	W. ByronHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	24	Chevrolet	2	+0.146 19.944	0.023	94.946
10	C. BellJOE GIBBS RACING	20	Toyota	2	+0.152 19.950	0.006	94.917
11	R. PreeceSTEWART-HAAS RACING	41	Ford	2	+0.165 19.963	0.013	94.855
12	Z. SmithSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	71	Chevrolet	2	+0.190 19.988	0.025	94.737
13	N. GragsonSTEWART-HAAS RACING	10	Ford	2	+0.214 20.012	0.024	94.623
14	A. DillonRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING	3	Chevrolet	2	+0.218 20.016	0.004	94.604
15	C. BuescherRFK RACING	17	Ford	2	+0.225 20.023	0.007	94.571
16	C. LajoieSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	7	Chevrolet	2	+0.300 20.098	0.075	94.218
17	H. BurtonWOOD BROTHERS RACING	21	Ford	2	+0.317 20.115	0.017	94.139
18	D. HemricKAULIG RACING	31	Chevrolet	2	+0.360 20.158	0.043	93.938