William Byron, Martin Truex Jr. continue 1-2 NASCAR battle on front row at Pocono
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. are 1-2 for most wins in the Cup Series. Truex and Byron are 1-2 in the points standings.
They'll be 1-2 again Sunday at Pocono Raceway — Byron turned a fast lap in the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports of 170.629 mph to take the top spot and Truex joined him on the front row in with a lap of 170.235 in the No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.
That puts the two NASCAR championship favorites on the front row at Pocono.
“We need to be upfront,” Truex said. “They're going to be, and they're going to be challenging for wins, so we need to do the same and I know we can do it.”
Byron has four wins and Truex picked up his third with Monday's dominant performance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Truex — who has yet to decide if he'll retire or return for another season at JGR — kept the fast speeds rolling Saturday.
“We're feeling really great about where we're at as a team right now and what we've been able to do pretty much everywhere we go,” Truex said. “Had a lot of speed today and that's always a great feeling when you come here.”
Truex won at Pocono in 2015 and 2018 while Byron is winless with two top-five finishes in nine career starts.
Last season's Pocono race was marred by the disqualification of winner Denny Hamlin and runner-up Kyle Busch.
Hamlin had his record seventh Pocono victory tossed out when the NASCAR inspection team found issues in both JGR Toyotas that affected the aerodynamics. Chase Elliott was declared the race winner off his original third-place finish.
Hamlin was the first disqualified Cup winner since April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson Speedway in North Carolina was thrown out because of an oversized fuel tank.
Hamlin starts eighth Sunday for JGR while Busch, in his first season with Richard Childress Racing, starts 25th. He won the Truck Series race at Pocono earlier Saturday and is tied with Truex in Cup with three wins.
“Everyone knows we'll be in the story as long as nothing detrimental happens,” Hamlin said.
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