It was just a thousandth of a second that kept Bubba Wallace from the Cup Series pole at Martinsville Speedway.
Wallace went out first and set the bar for Larson in the final round of qualifying. The Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 was tracking quite a bit faster throughout his final lap but lost speed on the final corner. It wasn’t enough to take away his advantage, however and shot to the top of the chart.
Wallace’s disappointment was a little extra motivation for Larson, too. At Richmond, Wallace spun Larson in the closing laps. Despite that, Larson recovered to third, benefitting from the caution freezing his position on track, and Wallace languished in 13th after a slow trip down pit road.
“Last week was pretty sweet revenge, us finishing third and him having a rough pit stop,” Larson said with a smile.
Despite the motivation, he did not expect to sit on the pole at Martinsville.
“Honestly, a bit unexpected,” Larson described it. “I knew we’d be good, but that second lap didn’t feel that good. It was just enough, though.”
If there’s any race to get on the pole it’s a race where all your team cars are wearing a special livery, and that’s the case here. To celebrate Hendrick Motorsports’ ruby 40th Anniversary, all four cars are decked out in ruby red at the track that has been so good for the brand.
“Really cool to get this 40th anniversary Hendrick Camaro on the pole,” Larson said. “It seems like all four Hendrick cars are really good, too, so hopefully it’s a good day for the organization.”
While the pole is a good sign for Larson and the Hendrick team, it hasn’t been the best indicator of success at the track over the past decade. Larson will be hoping to break that pattern on Sunday.
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