Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1, is set to make his return to Cup Series racing after being out for six weeks due to a leg injury. However, during qualifying for Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, Elliott just couldn’t find the speed he was looking for in the No. 9 Camaro, and wound up with a 24th-place starting position.
“Felt pretty good, but abysmal qualifying lap and I can’t really blame my leg on that one,” Elliott said, having posted a time of 30.384 seconds in the No. 9 NASCAR Chevy. “I had a pretty good first lap and then really messed up in [Turn] two on the second one. Judging off of practice, starting in the back is going to be a lot of fun, looking forward to that in the ole’ NAPA Chevy.”
However, Elliott said that he feels quite comfortable behind the wheel, despite his injury.
“I feel fine in the car,” he said. “My entire practice run, I felt fine, and once you kind of get out there on the track and start focusing on the little things that you need to be doing in your car, some of that goes away, so that’s a good thing. My qualifying lap wasn’t because of that, just a poor effort.”
Up front, the No. 41 Ford Mustang of Ryan Preece nabbed the pole position, as he was the only competitor to post a lap time that was less than 20 seconds. The No. 99 Camaro of Daniel Suárez will start second, with the No. 10 Mustang of Aric Almirola, the No. 14 Mustang of Chase Briscoe and the No. 19 Toyota TRD Camry of Martin Truex Jr. rounding out the top five.
Weather has been a concern at Martinsville all weekend, but recently, NASCAR debuted a wet-weather tire that would allow the race to commence even in rainy conditions. The green flag is scheduled to drop on Sunday, April 16th, 2023 at 3 p.m. ET.
| Pos | Car Number | Driver | Team | Time | Speed | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 41 | Ryan Preece | HaasTooling.com Ford | 19.979 | 94.78 | Ford Mustang |
| 2 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Worldwide Express Chevrolet | 20.081 | 94.298 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 3 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 20.081 | 94.298 | Ford Mustang |
| 4 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | HighPoint.com Ford | 20.112 | 94.153 | Ford Mustang |
| 5 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Bass Pro Shops Toyota | 20.119 | 94.12 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 6 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | The Beast Unleashed Toyota | 20.128 | 94.078 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 7 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Realtree/Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford | 20.15 | 93.975 | Ford Mustang |
| 8 | 24 | William Byron | Liberty University Chevrolet | 20.155 | 93.952 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 9 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | McDonald's Toyota | 20.167 | 93.896 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 10 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Nexletol Ford | 20.191 | 93.784 | Ford Mustang |
| 11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota | 20.227 | 93.617 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 12 | 54 | Ty Gibbs # | Monster Energy Toyota | 20.232 | 93.594 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 13 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | Frontline Enterprises Inc. Ford | 20.267 | 93.433 | Ford Mustang |
| 14 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Action Industries Chevrolet | 20.297 | 93.295 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 15 | 22 | Joey Logano | Verizon 5G Ford | 20.304 | 93.262 | Ford Mustang |
| 16 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Kroger/Tree Top Chevrolet | 20.307 | 93.249 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 17 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Mark III Employee Benefits Chevrolet | 20.326 | 93.161 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 18 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet | 20.353 | 93.038 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 19 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 20.356 | 93.024 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 20 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Long John Silver's Ford | 20.362 | 92.997 | Ford Mustang |
| 21 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Fastenal Ford | 20.377 | 92.928 | Ford Mustang |
| 22 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Shingrix Toyota | 20.382 | 92.906 | Toyota TRD Camry |
| 23 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 20.382 | 92.906 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 24 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 20.384 | 92.896 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 25 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Menards/Libman Ford | 20.394 | 92.851 | Ford Mustang |
| 26 | 31 | Justin Haley | LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet | 20.395 | 92.846 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 27 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | NEGU Chevrolet | 20.408 | 92.787 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 28 | 43 | Erik Jones | Allegiant Chevrolet | 20.409 | 92.783 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 29 | 42 | Noah Gragson # | Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet | 20.469 | 92.511 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 30 | 78 | Anthony Alfredo(i) | Andy's Frozen Custard Chevrolet | 20.478 | 92.47 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 31 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Advance Auto Parts Ford | 20.507 | 92.339 | Ford Mustang |
| 32 | 21 | Harrison Burton | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 20.507 | 92.339 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 51 | Zane Smith(i) | Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford | 20.571 | 92.052 | Ford Mustang |
| 34 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Unishippers Chevrolet | 20.619 | 91.838 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 35 | 77 | Ty Dillon | NationsGuard Chevrolet | 20.624 | 91.815 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
| 36 | 15 | JJ Yeley(i) | Isaacson Concrete & Excavating Ford | 20.673 | 91.598 | Ford Mustang |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
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Comments
Couldn’t help but notice those 5 fords in the top 10 & 4 of them from Stewart-Haas Racing. I think that has to be a first for them! I’ve always liked 1/2 mile tracks, ya get to see a lot of close racing. Years ago I was a tru fan of sprint car racing. Lived down the street from Ascot raceway in Gardena Ca, sad when they shut down in 1990! I still live here & can hear the ghosts of Ascot hot lapping on Saturday nights!
Snoopy
I pretty much stopped watching the Cup Series since they switched to these garbage cars. Also this limited or no practice policy they now run is B.S.! Let them do like the past and have multiple tuning and test sessions. Get those cars dialed in BEFORE the race. The idiots who own/run Nascar have ruined it.
They have fallen to the global warming crowd.