CONCORD, N.C. -- Martin Truex Jr. will start seventh in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500, the first race in Round 2 of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Truex’s performance Thursday evening at the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway marks the 21st top-10 qualifying effort of the season for the Furniture Row Racing driver.
Truex advanced to the pole shootout round of 12 drivers after posting the 12th fastest lap in the first round (193.009 mph) and fifth fastest in the second (194.925 mph).
In the third and final round Truex’s No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota posted a lap time of 27.717 seconds at 194.826.
“We were okay, it’s just tricky qualifying here," Furniture Row crew chief Cole Pearn said. "We didn’t have it quite perfect to put it all together, but we have good speed in the car. We just have to see what happens with the weather tomorrow and be ready to adjust whenever we race.
Kevin Harvick claimed the pole (27.547 at 196.029). Rounding out the top-12 in order were: Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, AJ Almendinger, Truex, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne.
Saturday night’s race will be televised on NBC, starting at 5 p.m. MT (7 ET).
