Qualifying report

William Byron earns Martinsville NASCAR Cup pole by just 0.002s

Byron will start Sunday's critical playoff race from the very front of the field

Facing a must-win situation, William Byron earned a critical pole position at Martinsville Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver lapped the half-mile short track in 19.286s, beating Ty Gibbs by just fractions — 0.002s — for pole.

This is Byron's 16th career pole and his third of the 2025 season, but the two-time Martinsville winner has never started on the front row for this race.

"It's great, but it's not the race though," said Byron. "So, we got a lot of work to do tomorrow. It felt good in practice. It felt decent there in qualifying. It's just so cold. It took a while for the tires to kind of come in. It feels nice -- first pole at Martinsville. We usually struggle to qualify well here. Just excited for tomorrow. It's a big challenge, and that's what counts. After 500 laps, we'll see how we are."

On what he expects for the race on Sunday, Byron added: "It's going to be similar conditions to what it is right now. It's going to be chilly. The track is going to change a bunch. We got to do a good job of communicating, talking through it and making the right adjustments."

Kyle Larson, who currently holds the fourth and final transfer spot, qualified third. Joey Logano was fourth, and Denny Hamlin fifth.

Cole Custer, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Chase Briscoe, and Austin Cindric filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Christopher Bell qualified 12th, but he wasn't the worst of the eight playoff drivers. Surprisingly, Ryan Blaney will start very deep in the field in 31st. The Team Penske driver has won the last two fall races at Martinsville.

There were no incidents during the session, and all 37 entries put down a qualifying time.

Q

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	2	19.286		98.185
2	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	2	+0.002 19.288	0.002	98.175
3	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	2	+0.029 19.315	0.027	98.038
4	J. Logano Team Penske	22	Ford	2	+0.036 19.322	0.007	98.002
5	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	2	+0.061 19.347	0.025	97.876
6	C. Custer Haas Factory Team	41	Ford	2	+0.062 19.348	0.001	97.871
7	K. Busch Richard Childress Racing	8	Chevrolet	2	+0.066 19.352	0.004	97.850
8	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	2	+0.067 19.353	0.001	97.845
9	C. Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	2	+0.090 19.376	0.023	97.729
10	A. Cindric Team Penske	2	Ford	2	+0.107 19.393	0.017	97.643
11	M. McDowell Spire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	2	+0.113 19.399	0.006	97.613
12	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	2	+0.115 19.401	0.002	97.603
13	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	2	+0.122 19.408	0.007	97.568
14	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45	Toyota	2	+0.125 19.411	0.003	97.553
15	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	2	+0.131 19.417	0.006	97.523
16	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	34	Ford	2	+0.147 19.433	0.016	97.442
17	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	2	+0.151 19.437	0.004	97.422
18	R. Preece RFK Racing	60	Ford	2	+0.152 19.438	0.001	97.417
19	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6	Ford	2	+0.167 19.453	0.015	97.342
20	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	2	+0.169 19.455	0.002	97.332
21	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23	Toyota	2	+0.173 19.459	0.004	97.312
22	S. van Gisbergen TrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	2	+0.176 19.462	0.003	97.297
23	Z. Smith Front Row Motorsports	38	Ford	2	+0.219 19.505	0.043	97.083
24	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	2	+0.225 19.511	0.006	97.053
25	R. Herbst 23XI Racing	35	Toyota	2	+0.234 19.520	0.009	97.008
26	T. Dillon Kaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	2	+0.240 19.526	0.006	96.978
27	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	2	+0.244 19.530	0.004	96.959
28	J. Berry Wood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	2	+0.244 19.530	0.000	96.959
29	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17	Ford	2	+0.273 19.559	0.029	96.815
30	D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing	99	Chevrolet	2	+0.274 19.560	0.001	96.810
31	R. Blaney Team Penske	12	Ford	2	+0.320 19.606	0.046	96.583
32	R. Stenhouse Jr Hyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	2	+0.343 19.629	0.023	96.470
33	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	2	+0.362 19.648	0.019	96.376
34	J. Haley Spire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	2	+0.384 19.670	0.022	96.268
35	N. Gragson Front Row Motorsports	4	Ford	2	+0.418 19.704	0.034	96.102
36	C. Ware Rick Ware Racing	51	Ford	2	+0.546 19.832	0.128	95.482
37	C. Mears Garage 66	66	Ford	2	+0.609 19.895	0.063	95.180
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