Martin Truex Jr.’s Joe Gibbs Racing team drew its driver the top starting spot for Sunday’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. As for most races since NASCAR’s return after a 10-week break earlier in the year, the starting grid for Sunday’s race was determined by multiple drawings, with one drawing being among the top-12 teams in NASCAR Cup Series owner points for the top-12 starting positions.
“You go in there expecting the unexpected and try to put yourself in the right position, but most of the time, you’re at the mercy of the guys around you,” Truex said. “It doesn’t really matter what your strategy is as far as trying to race your way to the front or riding in the back. At some point, you’re going to have to try to race your way up through there, and that’s usually when something happens. We’ll come up with a game plan and see what happens and give it our best shot like we always do. It’s going to be interesting going out there without practice, but we don’t tend to practice much in a big pack there anyways, so I’m not sure it’s a huge difference from what we’re used to.”
Despite the grid being determined by drawing, JGR drivers claimed the top-three starting positions for the Talladega race. Truex will share the front row with Denny Hamlin, putting the two most recent series winners on the front row — Truex after winning at Martinsville Speedway about a week-and-a-half earlier and Hamlin the winner at Homestead-Miami Speedway the previous weekend.
Superspeedways are such a wildcard race,” Hamlin said. “We’ve been fortunate the last few years to have success and already have one superspeedway win this season with the Daytona 500, but it’s all about being there at the end with a shot. Last year, we wrecked out early at Talladega in the spring and, then, survived in the fall and had a good finish. It’s like a chess match, and whoever can play the game the best and make the right moves throughout the day will have a shot at the win. I like our odds, and I think we have just as good as a chance as anyone else to take home another win on Sunday.”
Truex and Hamlin’s teammate Kyle Busch drew the third starting position to share row two with seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
The remaining Gibbs driver, Erik Jones’ #20 team isn’t in the top-12, so his team drew among the teams in the 13th through 24th in owner points for corresponding positions and wound up with the 18th position on the grid..
Ford drivers Kevin Harvick and five-time Talladega winner Brad Keselowski drew starting spots fifth and sixth to start in the third row, as Chevrolet drivers Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman drew fourth-row starting spots. A couple more Ford drivers, Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer, drew the ninth and 10th starting spots to start in the fifth row.
The two most recent Talladega race winners Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney drew the final two positions in the top-12 of the grid, with 2019 sprint race winner Elliott in 11th and latest winner last fall, Blaney, in 12th.
“Last year worked out really well for us,” Elliott said. “It was kind of one of those races where things just kind of just fell in our lap, there, towards the end of the race. We were super patient and just very disciplined as a group. I’m looking forward to getting back to Talladega this weekend with the Mountain Dew/Little Caesars Chevy and trying to do it all again.”
