Truex Wins Pocono Pole

Jerome Miron - USA Today Sports

LONG POND, PA – RIS – Martin Truex, Jr. continued the Toyota dominance in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series by winning the pole for Sunday’s race at Pocono International Raceway.  Truex gained his advantage by being faster in Turn 2—the tunnel turn—and running a lap of 179.244 mph which was good enough to start first on Sunday.

“For some reason, I just felt comfortable there,” Truex said.  It was the third pole of the season for the Furniture Row Racing Toyota team.  He beat out fellow Toyota driver Carl Edwards and Richard Childress Racing’s Paul Menard for the pole.  It’s the same car that Truex used to dominate the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.  The full lineup is listed below.

Qualifying Round: 3
1 78 Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row Toyota 50.211 179.244 1 1 0.000 0.000
2 19 Carl Edwards Stanley Toyota 50.315 178.873 1 1 0.104 0.104
3 27 Paul Menard Moen/Menards Chevrolet 50.372 178.671 1 1 0.161 0.057
4 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 50.409 178.540 1 1 0.198 0.037
5 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 50.439 178.433 1 1 0.228 0.030
6 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1 Chevrolet 50.450 178.394 1 1 0.239 0.011
7 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford 50.460 178.359 1 1 0.249 0.010
8 24 Chase Elliott # NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 50.684 177.571 1 1 0.473 0.224
9 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 50.729 177.413 1 1 0.518 0.045
10 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 50.804 177.151 1 1 0.593 0.075
11 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet 50.824 177.082 1 1 0.613 0.020
12 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol Chevrolet 50.895 176.835 1 1 0.684 0.071


Qualifying Round: 2
1 78 Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row Toyota 50.441 178.426 1 1 0.000 0.000
2 19 Carl Edwards Stanley Toyota 50.459 178.363 1 1 0.018 0.018
3 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 50.532 178.105 1 1 0.091 0.073
4 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 50.535 178.094 1 1 0.094 0.003
5 27 Paul Menard Moen/Menards Chevrolet 50.535 178.094 1 1 0.094 0.000
6 24 Chase Elliott # NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 50.617 177.806 1 1 0.176 0.082
7 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 50.619 177.799 3 3 0.178 0.002
8 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1 Chevrolet 50.670 177.620 1 1 0.229 0.051
9 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet 50.692 177.543 1 1 0.251 0.022
10 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol Chevrolet 50.709 177.483 3 3 0.268 0.017
11 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford 50.712 177.473 1 1 0.271 0.003
12 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 50.714 177.466 1 1 0.273 0.002
13 47 AJ Allmendinger Scott Products Chevrolet 50.755 177.322 1 1 0.314 0.041
14 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Performance Ford 50.767 177.281 1 1 0.326 0.012
15 41 Kurt Busch Monster Energy/Haas Automation 50.795 177.183 1 2 0.354 0.028
16 18 Kyle Busch M&M's 75th Anniversary Toyota 50.832 177.054 1 1 0.391 0.037
17 4 Kevin Harvick Mobil 1 Chevrolet 50.851 176.988 3 3 0.410 0.019
18 * 21 Ryan Blaney # Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 50.882 176.880 1 1 0.441 0.031
19 1 Jamie McMurray Cessna/McDonald's Chevrolet 50.970 176.574 3 3 0.529 0.088
20 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 50.998 176.478 1 1 0.557 0.028
21 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 51.110 176.091 2 2 0.669 0.112
22 34 Chris Buescher # Dockside Logistics Ford 51.112 176.084 1 3 0.671 0.002
23 5 Kasey Kahne Great Clips Chevrolet 51.165 175.901 1 1 0.724 0.053
24 88 Jeff Gordon Nationwide Chevrolet 51.222 175.706 1 1 0.781 0.057


Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed Lap # # Laps -Fastest -Next
Qualifying Round: 1
1 19 Carl Edwards Stanley Toyota 50.596 177.880 1 1 0.000 0.000
2 78 Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row Toyota 50.728 177.417 1 1 0.132 0.132
3 * 21 Ryan Blaney # Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 50.764 177.291 1 1 0.168 0.036
4 4 Kevin Harvick Mobil 1 Chevrolet 50.798 177.172 1 1 0.202 0.034
5 18 Kyle Busch M&M's 75th Anniversary Toyota 50.817 177.106 1 1 0.221 0.019
6 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 50.885 176.869 1 1 0.289 0.068
7 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 50.939 176.682 1 1 0.343 0.054
8 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 50.969 176.578 1 1 0.373 0.030
9 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 50.969 176.578 1 1 0.373 0.000
10 27 Paul Menard Moen/Menards Chevrolet 50.979 176.543 1 1 0.383 0.010
11 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford 50.988 176.512 1 1 0.392 0.009
12 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol Chevrolet 51.023 176.391 1 1 0.427 0.035
13 24 Chase Elliott # NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 51.027 176.377 1 1 0.431 0.004
14 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 51.045 176.315 3 3 0.449 0.018
15 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Performance Ford 51.050 176.298 3 3 0.454 0.005
16 41 Kurt Busch Monster Energy/Haas Automation 51.068 176.236 1 1 0.472 0.018
17 5 Kasey Kahne Great Clips Chevrolet 51.117 176.067 1 1 0.521 0.049
18 34 Chris Buescher # Dockside Logistics Ford 51.140 175.987 5 5 0.544 0.023
19 42 Kyle Larson Target Chevrolet 51.142 175.981 1 1 0.546 0.002
20 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 51.160 175.919 3 3 0.564 0.018
21 14 Tony Stewart Mobil 1 Chevrolet 51.189 175.819 1 1 0.593 0.029
22 1 Jamie McMurray Cessna/McDonald's Chevrolet 51.197 175.792 1 1 0.601 0.008
23 88 Jeff Gordon Nationwide Chevrolet 51.203 175.771 3 3 0.607 0.006
24 47 AJ Allmendinger Scott Products Chevrolet 51.242 175.637 1 1 0.646 0.039
25 16 Greg Biffle Ford EcoBoost Ford 51.252 175.603 1 1 0.656 0.010
26 10 Danica Patrick Mobil 1 Chevrolet 51.310 175.404 3 3 0.714 0.058
27 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 51.433 174.985 1 2 0.837 0.123
28 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Chevrolet 51.648 174.257 3 3 1.052 0.215
29 95 Michael McDowell Malwarebytes Chevrolet 51.654 174.236 1 2 1.058 0.006
30 7 Regan Smith APC Chevrolet 51.776 173.826 3 3 1.180 0.122
31 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 51.863 173.534 3 3 1.267 0.087
32 38 Landon Cassill MDS Transport Ford 51.876 173.491 3 3 1.280 0.013
33 23 David Ragan USA Network Toyota 52.000 173.077 1 3 1.404 0.124
34 83 Matt DiBenedetto EJ Wade Construction Toyota 52.061 172.874 3 3 1.465 0.061
35 44 Brian Scott # Medallion Financial Ford 52.262 172.209 4 4 1.666 0.201
36 * 98 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 52.412 171.716 1 3 1.816 0.150
37 32 Jeb Burton(i) Erie Insurance Ford 52.500 171.429 3 3 1.904 0.088
38 * 30 Josh Wise Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet 52.801 170.451 1 1 2.205 0.301
39 46 Michael Annett Allstate Peterbilt Group Chevrolet 53.019 169.750 3 5 2.423 0.218
40 * 55 Reed Sorenson Vydox Plus Chevrolet 56.741 158.615 1 1 6.145 3.722

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2016, Issue 6, Posted 12:17 AM, 07.30.2016