Martin Truex Jr. on the pole for tonight’s Texas Sprint Cup race
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
FORT WORTH, Texas
In blustery conditions at Texas Motor Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. topped the speed chart in Friday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying session, winning the pole for tonight’s Samsung Mobile 500 at the 1.5-mile track.
The pole was Truex’s first of the season, his second at Texas and the seventh of his career. The driver of the No. 56 Toyota posted a lap at 190.369 mph (28.366 seconds) to edge defending race winner Matt Kenseth (190.148 mph) for the top starting spot.
Kenseth was .004 seconds faster than third-place qualifier Greg Biffle, his teammate at Roush Fenway Racing and the series leader by six points over Dale Earnhardt Jr., who placed 16th in the time trials. Mark Martin (190.020 mph), Truex’s teammate at Michael Waltrip Racing, qualified fourth, followed by Kasey Kahne (189.633 mph).
With the pole secure, Truex will try to win his first race since June 2007, when he claimed his only Cup victory at Dover.
“That’s our main goal,” said Truex, who is tied for third in the Cup standings with Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and defending series champion Tony Stewart. “This team’s good enough. We can get to victory lane. We’re going to do it soon. I feel good about this team. I’m just having so much fun coming to the racetrack and driving these cars.”
Stewart qualified 29th in a backup car after scraping the outside wall during the second lap of Friday’s 90-minute practice session. The accident may have been a blessing in disguise for the Stewart, who found the backup No. 14 Chevrolet more responsive to adjustments than his primary car.
“I just got loose and didn’t have enough racetrack to get it gathered up,” Stewart said of the brush with the wall.