Martin Truex Jr to Start on Pole Position for Cup Series Race at Bristol Motor Speedway

Published 09/16/2021, 8:48 AM EDT

This weekend is the Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. It will be the drivers’ second visit to the speedway, and the first visit on the tarmac surface. It will also be the final race before the first round of the playoffs concludes. At the end of this race, the bottom four drivers will be eliminated from the running. For this race, Martin Truex Jr starts on pole position after his win at Richmond.

Alongside him on the front row will be Denny Hamlin, making it a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2. Behind them will be Joey Logano and defending champion, Chase Elliott, with Kyle Larson in 5th. Truex Jr and Hamlin’s nearest teammate will be Christopher Bell in sixth place. Behind him will be Ryan Blaney and the lone Stewart-Haas car of Kevin Harvick. Rounding out the Top 10 will be Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski for Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske, respectively.

Starting line up by row for @NASCAR Cup Series race @BMSupdates Saturday night. @StenhouseJr | @kroger | @ThomasBreakfast | @hungryjack | @sunnydelight | @BushsBeans | @RyanPreece_ | @VIVATowels | #ItsBristolBaby | #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/IVZM67h35H
— JTG Daugherty Racing (@JTGRacing) September 15, 2021

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Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman will sit in 11th place, ahead of Aric Almirola. Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick will lead the last of the Hendrick drivers, William Byron. Finally, Kurt Busch and Michael McDowell will round out the 16 Playoff drivers.

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How does everyone else line up behind Martin Truex Jr?

Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon will bring up the first of the non-Playoff crowd. Finally, Matt DiBenedetto and Chase Briscoe will complete the Top 20.

Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones will line up in 21st and 22nd, respectively. The two will start ahead of Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ryan Newman, and Chris Buescher. Buescher will share the 13th row with Cole Custer, the last of the Stewart-Haas cars. Behind them will be Ryan Preece and Bubba Wallace, with Justin Haley and Anthony Alfredo in 29th and 30th.

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A disappointed Corey LaJoie will starts the race from 31st, ahead of BJ McLeod. Row 17 will consist of Josh Bilicki and Quin Houff. Finally, JJ Yeley, Garrett Smithley, James Davison, and David Starr will complete the 38-strong Cup Series grid. Admittedly, Truex Jr, Hamlin and Larson head into this race under no pressure, as they have already qualified for the next round. However, the same cannot be said for the remaining 13 drivers.

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.