After a slow start in practice, Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team stepped up its program with a ninth-place qualifying effort Friday at the 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Truex’s teammate Erik Jones, driving the No. 77 SiriusXM Toyota, advanced to the second round and was credited with a qualifying position of 23rd.
Truex will start Sunday’s QuikTrip 500 from the inside of Row 5 and Jones will start the 325 lapper from the inside of Row 12.
Truex, driving the No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota Camry, advanced to the third and final round after placing 15th in the first round with a lap time and speed of 29.511 seconds at 187.862 mph and seventh in the second round (29.411 at 188.501).
In the pole-shootout final round of 12 drivers Truex covered the 1.54-mile oval in 29.534 at 187.716.
“We made good gains in qualifying,” said Truex. “We were way off at the start of practice but kept on getting better. I thought we could pick up some speed in the final round. I got into turns one and two really good but then got loose going into (turn) three. I thought we had a top-five qualifying car but lost a few spots in the last two turns.”
Jones, who is making his first career Cup start at Atlanta Motor Speedway, was 24th fastest in the first round (29.722 at 186,528) and 23rd fastest in the second round (30.113 at 184.107).
“We really struggled with the balance all day,” said Jone. “The SiriusXM team fought tight/loose all through practice and then fought the same thing in qualifying. In the first [qualifying run] we were too tight to make a good lap and in the next round we were way too loose. We’ll have a whole day of race runs tomorrow which will be a lot of help for our Furniture Row Racing team and for me.”
Kevin Harvick claimed the pole. Rounding out the top 12 in order were: Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Truex, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sunday’s QuikTrip 500 race will be televised live on the Fox network 12:30 p.m. MT (2:30 ET).