Chase Elliott laid down the best lap time during qualifying at Martinsville Speedway on April 8th, putting his No. 9 Nascar Camaro ZL1 on the pole for Saturday night’s Cup Series race.
Elliot’s No. 9 Nascar Camaro made it around the half-mile asphalt oval in just 19.694 seconds, hitting a top speed of 96.151 mph. Earning the first starting position at Martinsville marks Elliott’s 10th career pole position and his first of the 2022 Nascar Cup Series season.
The @llumarfilms Chevy and @chaseelliott take the pole at @MartinsvilleSwy! pic.twitter.com/pUaxEswy7v
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) April 8, 2022
“It’s always good to get a good starting spot – obviously, Lap 400… is what pays,” Elliott said in a post-qualifying interview. “Hopefully, we can get this thing dialed in to be driving like we want in the second half of the race and be around to have a shot at it.”
Starting in second place is the No. 10 Nascar Ford Mustang driven by Aric Almirola, who will retire from full-time competition at the end of the 2022 season. Third place went to Cole Custer in the No. 41 Ford, followed by the No. 17 Ford of Chris Beuscher. William Byron will start fifth in the No. 24 Camaro.
Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Camaro, will start 15th. Bowman took the win in dramatic fashion the last time the Cup Series visited Martinsville back in November 2021, bumping Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota TRD Camry out of the way to the checkered flag. Martin Truex Jr., who won last year’s April race at Martinsville, will start 20th in his No. 19 Toyota TRD Camry.
Meanwhile, the No. 16 Nascar Camaro driven by AJ Allmendinger was not allowed to qualify after failing pre-qualifying inspection multiple times. Allmendinger will be forced to serve a pass-through penalty once the green flag drops at Martinsville Speedway, and has had an engineer ejected from the weekend’s activities. Allmendinger’s No. 16 machine was the only one that failed inspection more than once.
The green flag at Martinsville will drop at 7:30 p.m. ET on April 9th, weather permitting.
| Pos | Car Number | Driver | Team | Time | Speed | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Chase Elliott | LLumar Chevrolet | 19.694 | 96.151 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 2 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Spirals Ford | 19.799 | 95.641 | Ford Mustang |
| 3 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com Ford | 19.808 | 95.598 | Ford Mustang |
| 4 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Fastenal Ford | 19.85 | 95.395 | Ford Mustang |
| 5 | 24 | William Byron | RaptorTough.com Chevrolet | 19.893 | 95.189 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 6 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Subway Ford | 19.941 | 94.96 | Ford Mustang |
| 7 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Yahoo! Toyota | 19.965 | 94.846 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 8 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 20.003 | 94.666 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 9 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Fastenal Ford | 20.015 | 94.609 | Ford Mustang |
| 10 | 38 | Todd Gilliland # | Cross Country Adjusting Ford | 20.062 | 94.387 | Ford Mustang |
| 11 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&M's Crunchy Cookie Toyota | 19.775 | 95.757 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 12 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Advance Auto Parts Ford | 19.789 | 95.69 | Ford Mustang |
| 13 | 2 | Austin Cindric # | Menards/Moen Ford | 19.79 | 95.685 | Ford Mustang |
| 14 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 19.792 | 95.675 | Ford Mustang |
| 15 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 19.863 | 95.333 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 16 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Navage Nasal Care Ford | 19.863 | 95.333 | Ford Mustang |
| 17 | 31 | Justin Haley | LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet | 19.867 | 95.314 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 18 | 45 | Kurt Busch | McDonald's/Money Lion Toyota | 19.901 | 95.151 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 19 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Mahindra Tractors Ford | 19.904 | 95.137 | Ford Mustang |
| 20 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 19.937 | 94.979 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 21 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | DoorDash Toyota | 19.965 | 94.846 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 22 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | 3CHI Chevrolet | 19.982 | 94.765 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 23 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Get Bioethanol Chevrolet | 19.986 | 94.746 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 24 | 43 | Erik Jones | FOCUSfactor Chevrolet | 19.996 | 94.699 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 25 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota | 20.083 | 94.289 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 26 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Built.com Chevrolet | 20.095 | 94.232 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 27 | 1 | Ross Chastain | GoPro Chevrolet | 20.1 | 94.209 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 28 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/Louisiana Hot Sauce Chevrolet | 20.113 | 94.148 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 29 | 21 | Harrison Burton # | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 20.134 | 94.05 | Ford Mustang |
| 30 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | GoPro Chevrolet | 20.145 | 93.999 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 31 | 77 | Josh Bilicki(i) | Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet | 20.269 | 93.423 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 32 | 15 | JJ Yeley(i) | Ford | 20.494 | 92.398 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 78 | BJ McLeod | Epilepsy Foundation Ford | 20.545 | 92.168 | Ford Mustang |
| 34 | 42 | Ty Dillon | Chevyliners.com Chevrolet | 20.591 | 91.963 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 35 | 51 | Cody Ware | Nurtec ODT Ford | 21.021 | 90.081 | Ford Mustang |
| 36 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger(i) | Action Industries Chevrolet | 0 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
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Comments
Nice now he needs to win so we have 4 good racers in the winner’s circle.