Martin Truex Jr. qualified 14th for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 Sprint Cup Series race and will start the 200-lapper on the outside of Row 7.
Truex, driving the No. 78 Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota, posted the fastest speed in Friday’s practice session at Michigan International Speedway, but couldn’t overcome a tight handling race car during qualifying.
After running the seventh fastest speed in the first session of qualifying at the 2-mile oval, he slipped to 14th in the second session, two positions shy of transferring to the 12-driver pole shootout round.
Truex’s time and speed in the first round was 35.964 seconds at 200.200 miles per hour. His second session numbers were 35.936 at 200.356.
The pole winner was Joey Logano (35.697 at 201.698). Rounding out the top 12 in order were: Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson.
Sunday’s race will be televised on the NBC Sports Network, noon MT (2 p.m. ET).