Martin Truex Jr. edges Kyle Larson for Phoenix pole

Truex blasted to the top of the leaderboard Friday in the final round of knockout qualifying to claim the pole for Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 at ISM Raceway near Phoenix.

Truex’s average lap speed of 136.945 mph was the fastest recorded by any Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver throughout the day.

Kyle Larson ended up second (136.643 mph), Chase Elliott third, Alex Bowman fourth and Joey Logano completed the top five.

Completing the Top 12: Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Erik Jones, Kevin Harvick, William Byron and Ryan Blaney.

The pole is the first of the season for Truex, the 16th of his career and second at Phoenix. His last pole at Phoenix came in the 2009 season.

“I did get a little loose getting in there (Turn 3) and thought for a second maybe I screwed up, but I caught the brake and caught the front grip just enough to keep it off the seam in the middle of the corner,” Truex said.

“Hats off to the guys. They’ve done a great job today. We had a good game plan. We’ve qualified well here in the past but we’ve been searching for those last couple of spots. We were fifth here in the fall.

“Good execution and a fun day today.”

Round 2

Larson, who was fastest in Friday’s lone practice session, edged out a pair of Hendrick Motorsports teammates in the 10-minute second qualifying session.

Larson’s average lap speed of 136.364 mph just edged Elliott (136.333 mph). Bowman was third, Hamlin fourth and Kyle Busch completed the top-five.

Also advancing to the final round of knockout qualifying: Truex, Jones, McMurray, Logano, Harvick, Blaney and Byron, who broke into the Top 12 just before the conclusion of the session.

Among those who failed to advance to the final round were: Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch and Austin Dillon.

Johnson’s starting position (17th) was a surprise considering he was fastest in Round 1.

“I kind of look back to the amount of practice we had,” Johnson said. “I never had a chance to go out on scuff tires to see what kind of adjustments we needed to make. But we have a fast car for Sunday.”

Johnson missed the final 30 minutes of practice Friday because his No. 48 twice failed pre-race inspection prior to last weekend’s race at Las Vegas.

Round 1

Johnson bolted to the top of the leaderboard late in the first 15-minute session with an average lap speed of 135.624 mph.

Johnson supplanted Jones (135.069 mph), who held the spot for the first 10 minutes.

Elliott was third-fastest, Hamlin fourth and Kyle Busch completed the top-five.

Both Chris Buescher and Kurt Busch made late-session runs in an attempt to advance to Round 2 and both were successful.

Among those who failed to advance were Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Darrell Wallace Jr., Ty Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Stenhouse wrecked his primary car on his first lap of practice on Friday. Because of using a backup car, Stenhouse was going to have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field regardless.

“We’re ready to come from the back on Sunday,” he said.

Jeffrey Earnhardt slammed the wall in Turn 3 early in the session, doing damage to the right-front area of his No. 00 Chevrolet. That brought out a red flag to briefly bring the session to a halt.

“Just locked up the front tires. It sucks. Not the way we wanted to start the weekend,” Earnhardt said.

Both Trevor Bayne and D.J. Kennington were in the middle of attempting their qualifying laps when the incident aborted their runs. The both had to cool their engines on pit road before beginning another attempt.

All cars passed pre-qualifying inspection prior to the start of the first session.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	26.288		136.945
2	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	26.346	0.058	136.643
3	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	26.446	0.158	136.126
4	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	26.455	0.167	136.080
5	22	Joey Logano	Ford	26.481	0.193	135.947
6	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	26.490	0.202	135.900
7	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	26.496	0.208	135.870
8	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	26.497	0.209	135.864
9	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	26.504	0.216	135.829
10	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	26.564	0.276	135.522
11	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	26.708	0.420	134.791
12	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	26.711	0.423	134.776
13	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	26.615	0.327	135.262
14	21	Paul Menard	Ford	26.631	0.343	135.181
15	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	26.652	0.364	135.074
16	38	David Ragan	Ford	26.664	0.376	135.014
17	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	26.665	0.377	135.008
18	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	26.667	0.379	134.998
19	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	26.726	0.438	134.700
20	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	26.809	0.521	134.283
21	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	26.818	0.530	134.238
22	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	26.850	0.562	134.078
23	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	26.913	0.625	133.764
24	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	26.953	0.665	133.566
25	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	27.012	0.724	133.274
26	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	27.024	0.736	133.215
27	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	27.057	0.769	133.052
28	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	27.065	0.777	133.013
29	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	27.084	0.796	132.920
30	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	27.150	0.862	132.597
31	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	27.305	1.017	131.844
32	23	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	27.542	1.254	130.709
33	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	27.612	1.324	130.378
34	96	D.J. Kennington	Toyota	27.757	1.469	129.697
35	51	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	27.931	1.643	128.889
36	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	28.004	1.716	128.553
37	00	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	0.000		0.000