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

Kyle Larson got Hendrick Motorsports’ 40th anniversary celebration at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway off to the best start possible.

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

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