Truex Jr. wins NASCAR pole at Pocono

Associated Press

LONG POND, Pa. — Martin Truex Jr. turned a lap of 179.244 mph and won the pole Friday at Pocono Raceway.

Truex won his third pole of the season in the No. 78 Toyota and the 10th of his career. He has one of his four career Sprint Cup victories at Pocono.

Carl Edwards was second, followed by Paul Menard, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman.

Driving for Richard Childress Racing, Menard was the surprise of the day at Pocono. Menard has just two top-10 finishes all season.

But he topped the lone practice chart in his first race weekend with crew chief Danny Stockman. RCR dumped Justin Alexander for Stockman for Menard’s stretch run.

Associated Press