A multi-time Martinsville Speedway winner will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday afternoon (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1).
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Denny Hamlin won the pole for the Cup Series race with a lap of 19.275 seconds. This is 49th career pole win at the Cup Series level and his first of the season. He is 10th all-time on the list of pole winners and only two behind Ryan Newman (51).
Now, he will lead the field to the green flag as he pursues his seventh Martinsville Speedway win.
"It's pretty awesome," Hamlin said about reaching 49 pole wins. "Really with age, the hardest part is still having the fast time. You know what I mean?
"It's one thing to be able to manage races and understand, use your experience to your advantage. But usually, the first thing to go is your all-out speed."
MORE: Full Martinsville lineup
William Byron, a three-time Martinsville winner, qualified second with a lap of 19.331 seconds. This is his first starting position better than ninth this season.
The rest of the top 10 included Josh Berry (19.334), Ty Gibbs (19.338), Shane van Gisbergen (19.339), Austin Cindric (19.351), Carson Hocevar (19.363), Tyler Reddick (19.376), Joey Logano (19.389), and Chase Elliott (19.392).
Christopher Bell, a one-time Martinsville winner, qualified 11th with a lap of 19.398 seconds. He will line up next to two-time Martinsville winner Ryan Blaney (19.429).
The Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway will take place on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. FS1 will provide coverage with Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Kevin Harvick in the booth.
This marks the second consecutive week that the teams will use the 750-horsepower, low-downforce package. The low-downforce package is familiar for the teams at this track, but the increased horsepower will mark a change and potentially lead to some more tire falloff.
"I feel good. I feel like not a lot has changed, so you know for us, it's just really trying to build on what we did here last fall and what we did at Bowman Gray," Byron said ahead of practice and qualifying.
"The tire is the same, but the horsepower is different, so just try to understand that in practice of how much that's going to feel different."
