Qualifying report
NASCAR Cup Homestead
Truex beats Wallace to Homestead NASCAR Cup pole
Martin Truex Jr. has been looking for something good to happen in the 2023 NASCAR Cup playoffs and his patience has paid off.
Jim Utter
Edited: Oct 21, 2023, 3:10 PM
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Truex went out early in the final round of Saturday’s qualifying session and held to win the pole for Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Although he won the regular season title, Truex has struggled in the playoffs with no finish better than ninth.
His average lap speed on of 167.411 mph edged fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace (167.115 mph) to claim his second pole of the season and 22nd of his career. It’s also the 500th pole by a Toyota driver in NASCAR’s three national series – Cup, Xfinity and Trucks.
“I actually thought we could have been a little bit better there,” Truex said. “You never know here. Scuff tires are always a challenge. Pretty good to get that pole for Toyota and a great start for us as well.
“Based on my past experience here I think we are close enough to be good later in the day (in the race) when the track gets slick. With these cars, you just never know what direction it could go. I can be a complete curveball.
“We just need to make smart adjustments tonight and figure out what the pace is going to be and where I want to run and go from there.”
Toyota completed a sweep of the top three positions with Tyler Reddick in third, Brad Keselowski was fourth and last week’s race winner, Kyle Larson, rounded out the top five.
Completing the top-10 starting lineup are Austin Dillon, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Ryan Blaney.
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Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph 1 
M. TRUEX JRJoe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 1
32.256
167.411 2 B. WALLACE23XI Racing 23 Toyota 1
+0.057
32.313
0.057 167.115 3 T. REDDICK23XI Racing 45 Toyota 1
+0.088
32.344
0.031 166.955 4 B. KESELOWSKIRFK Racing 6 Ford 1
+0.161
32.417
0.073 166.579 5 K. LARSONHendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 1
+0.254
32.510
0.093 166.103 6 A. DILLONRichard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 1
+0.295
32.551
0.041 165.894 7 W. BYRONHendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 1
+0.303
32.559
0.008 165.853 8 R. CHASTAINTrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 1
+0.307
32.563
0.004 165.832 9
T. GIBBSJoe Gibbs Racing
54 Toyota 1
+0.310
32.566
0.003 165.817 10 R. BLANEYTeam Penske 12 Ford 1
+0.338
32.594
0.028 165.675
Round 1 / Group A
As he did in practice, Wallace led the way in his qualifying group with an average lap speed of 169.343 mph.
Truex was second fastest at 168.755 mph and Austin Dillon ended up third 168.219 mph.
Also advancing to the final round of qualifying were Keselowski and Blaney, who was the top playoff driver in the group.
Among those who failed to move on were Alex Bowman and playoff drivers Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell.
Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph 1 B. WALLACE23XI Racing 23 Toyota 1
31.888
169.343 2 M. TRUEX JRJoe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 1
+0.111
31.999
0.111 168.755 3 A. DILLONRichard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 1
+0.213
32.101
0.102 168.219 4 B. KESELOWSKIRFK Racing 6 Ford 1
+0.216
32.104
0.003 168.203 5 R. BLANEYTeam Penske 12 Ford 1
+0.247
32.135
0.031 168.041 6 D. HAMLINJoe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 1
+0.258
32.146
0.011 167.984 7 A. BOWMANHendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 1
+0.281
32.169
0.023 167.863 8 C. BELLJoe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 1
+0.296
32.184
0.015 167.785 9 
D. SUAREZTrackHouse Racing 99 Chevrolet 1
+0.333
32.221
0.037 167.593 10 M. MCDOWELLFront Row Motorsports 34 Ford 1
+0.368
32.256
0.035 167.411 11 K. BUSCHRichard Childress Racing 8 Chevrolet 1
+0.457
32.345
0.089 166.950 12 C. BRISCOEStewart-Haas Racing 14 Ford 1
+0.501
32.389
0.044 166.723 13 R. STENHOUSE JRJTG Daugherty Racing 47 Chevrolet 1
+0.507
32.395
0.006 166.692 14 A. CINDRICTeam Penske 2 Ford 1
+0.557
32.445
0.050 166.436 15 R. PREECEStewart-Haas Racing 41 Ford 1
+0.625
32.513
0.068 166.087 16 T. DILLONSpire Motorsports 77 Chevrolet 1
+0.932
32.820
0.307 164.534 17 R. NEWMANRick Ware Racing 51 Ford 1
+0.962
32.850
0.030 164.384 18 J. BILICKILive Fast Motorsports 78 Chevrolet 1
+1.476
33.364
0.514 161.851
Round 1 / Group B
Reddick was fastest in the second group with an average lap speed at 168.734 mph.
Gibbs ended up second fastest at 168.193 mph and Byron was third (167.738 mph).
Also advancing to the final round of qualifying were Larson and Chastain.
Among those who failed to move on were Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick and Chris Buescher.
Aric Almirola began his qualifying lap but seemed to fall off the pace and ended with a slow qualifying lap.
Joey Logano did not participate in qualifying after he wrecked in the final minutes of Saturday’s practice session.
Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph
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