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
| 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 | |||
| View full results | ||||||||||
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