Truex beats Elliott for New Hampshire pole

Truex, who was the next-to-last- of the 10 drivers to qualify in the final round of Saturday’s session, grabbed the top spot with an average lap speed of 127.113 mph.

The pole is the first for Truex since he joined Joe Gibbs Racing and the 20th of his career.

“I’m really just proud of everybody on the team. We’ve had an up-and-down year and we’ve been digging and clawing and scratching and fighting and just proud of everyone,” said Truex, who has never won at New Hampshire in 28 career starts.

“This track has always been a special one for me. I certainly didn’t come here expecting to have this kind of speed and I’m just so proud of everybody.

“It’s going to be very difficult to pass. You could kind of see it in practice. I kind of caught a guy and I just kept slowing down the more he slowed down. Track position will be huge. Our pit crew has really come a long way since the beginning of the year and we’re really going to have to lean on them tomorrow.”

Last week’s race winner, Chase Elliott, ended up second-fastest (126.922 mph). It’s the third consecutive week he’ll start on the front row.

Kurt Busch will line up third and Bubba Wallace fourth as 23XI Racing swept the second row. Christopher Bell rounds out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 starting lineup are William Byron, who was fastest in practice; Aric Almirola; Kyle Larson; Brad Keselowski; and Kevin Harvick, who got loose on his quick lap and had to get out of the throttle.

Round 1 / Group B

Kurt Busch surprised with an average lap speed of 128.376 mph – which ended up the fastest of the day – to led Group B.

“I just nailed the lap,” Busch said. “The guys made really good adjustments to my car.”

Truex wound up second-fastest (128.074 mph) and Laron was third (128.035 mph).

Also advancing to the final round were Kevin Harvick and Christopher Bell.

Among those who failed to advance from Group B were Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick.

Round 1 / Group A

Elliott, the last car to go out, set a blistering pace with an average lap speed of 127.393 mph to lead Group A.

Elliott’s Hendrick teammate, Byron, ended up second-fastest (127.193 mph) and Wallace was third (126.664 mph).

“It didn’t feel too good honestly,” Wallace said. “I was on the tight side. My engineer did a great job keeping me updated on information. All in all, it's still a good run for us.”

Also advancing to the final round were Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski.

Among those who failed to advance were Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher and Austin Cindric.