MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Chase Elliott scored the pole position for Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
The pole is his first in over two years and the 10th of his Cup Series career. The pole position is also the 18th for Hendrick Motorsports at Martinsville (most of all teams) and the organization's 233rd pole.
PHOTOS: Scenes from Elliott's pole-winning effort
Elliott put down a top speed of 96.151 mph in the final round of group qualifying to take home the top spot for the 400-lap race. The driver of the No. 9 LLumar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has one Martinsville win to his name that came in the 2020 Playoff race.
"I think the overall feel here is pretty similar to what it’s been in the past," Elliott said of running the Next Gen Camaro at Martinsville. "It seems like the shorter tracks, the cars have a pretty similar sensation to what the last generation car had. It has just a little different way of getting there with setups and some of the fine details.
"Overall, I think it's fine. There are certainly going to be challenges tomorrow for us and I'm sure for everybody. Hopefully we can try to make the right decisions to hopefully have them impact us the least."
Elliott is one of three Hendrick Motorsports cars that will start in the top 10. William Byron will start fifth for the race in the No. 24 RaptorTough.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, while Kyle Larson will line up eighth in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Alex Bowman, who is the most recent winner at the .526-mile track, will start 15th in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
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Elliott also topped the board in practice and led the way for Hendrick Motorsports to have all four cars in the top seven of the speed chart. Bowman placed fourth, while Larson was sixth and Byron was seventh overall in the combined group sessions.
All four Hendrick Motorsports cars placed in the top five of the best 10-lap average from the group practice sessions with Larson leading the way in that category, followed by Byron placing second, Elliott fourth and Bowman fifth.
On Saturday night, Hendrick Motorsports will look to add to its short-track win total that sits at 54 – tops among all active teams in the NASCAR Cup Series. The organization will also look to add to its 26 wins at the Virginia track. For the 2022 season, Hendrick Motorsports has a series-high three in the Cup Series.
Catch the eighth points-paying race of the season at Martinsville on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.