NASCAR: Talladega starting lineup – Martin Truex Jr. on pole
By Asher Fair
Martin Truex Jr. drew the pole position in the random draw for Sunday’s GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
NASCAR continued the random draw process to select the starting lineup for this Sunday’s GEICO 500 Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, and this week’s draw resulted in a top three sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Joe Gibbs Racing entered this race with three drivers in the top 12 in the championship standings, meaning that all three were guaranteed to draw a top 12 starting position, and none of them drew lower than third place.
Martin Truex Jr. is set to start Sunday afternoon’s 188-lap race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked oval in Lincoln, Alabama in his #19 Toyota, and he is set to start alongside Denny Hamlin in second place his #11 Toyota.
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Hamlin started from the pole position in this past Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway before going on to win, so his front row starting position for this Sunday’s race is his second in a row.
Set to complete the top three sweep for NASCAR’s powerhouse Toyota team is Kyle Busch in third place in his #18 Toyota. He is set to start alongside the highest drawing non-Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson, in fourth in his #48 Chevrolet.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick was the highest drawing Ford driver, and he is set to start in fifth place in his #4 Ford alongside fellow Ford driver Brad Keselowski of Team Penske in sixth in his #2 Ford.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch, Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman, Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer are set to round of the top 10 in their #1 Chevrolet, #88 Chevrolet, #22 Ford and #14 Ford after drawing seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place, respectively.
The two drivers who had a chance to draw the pole position for this race but did not even draw top 10 starting positions were Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney. They are set to start in 11th and 12th place in their #9 Chevrolet and #12 Ford, respectively.
Here is the full starting lineup for the 2020 GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Starting lineup
1st – Martin Truex Jr.
2nd – Denny Hamlin
3rd – Kyle Busch
4th – Jimmie Johnson
5th – Kevin Harvick
6th – Brad Keselowski
7th – Kurt Busch
8th – Alex Bowman
9th – Joey Logano
10th – Clint Bowyer
11th – Chase Elliott
12th – Ryan Blaney
13th – Matt Kenseth
14th – Ryan Newman
15th – Aric Almirola
16th – Tyler Reddick
17th – Austin Dillon
18th – Erik Jones
19th – William Byron
20th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21st – Chris Buescher
22nd – John Hunter Nemechek
23rd – Matt DiBenedetto
24th – Bubba Wallace
25th – Corey LaJoie
26th – Michael McDowell
27th – Brennan Poole
28th – Cole Custer
29th – Gray Gaulding
30th – B.J. McLeod
31st – Ryan Preece
32nd – Quin Houff
33rd – Ty Dillon
34th – J.J. Yeley
35th – Christopher Bell
36th – Joey Gase
37th – Daniel Suarez
38th – Timmy Hill
39th – Brendan Gaughan
40th – Garrett Smithley
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Fox is set to broadcast the GEICO 500 live from Talladega Superspeedway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, June 21.