Truex takes prime position for elimination race at Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Martin Truex Jr. had already locked up his spot in the next round of NASCAR’s playoffs.

Now, he’ll have the prime pit position for its first race.

Truex won the pole for this weekend’s elimination race at Kansas Speedway on Friday night, and with that prize came the chance to have pit choice at Martinsville. The paper clip-like geometry of that track makes stall selection arguably the biggest advantage of any track all season.

“We race one week at a time, try to do the best job we can, but we knew this was a big one tonight,” said Truex, whose victory at Charlotte punched his ticket to the round of eight. “Just proud of everybody for making the right adjustments, the right calls.”

Truex has dominated at Kansas Speedway for years, only for bad luck to conspire against him. But he broke through with a victory in May, and that’s kicked off a dominant stretch at intermediate tracks that has included a run of three consecutive wins at mile-and-a-half ovals.

“It’s been pretty terrible lately,” he said, sarcastically. “This stuff is so difficult and all these teams out here work so hard, trying to be better than we’ve been.

“If you’re not getting better you’re going backward.”

Truex was followed by playoff contenders Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin for Sunday’s race at Kansas.

Hamilton leads practice pace

Formula One season championship leader Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest laps in two practice sessions at the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, putting further pressure on title rival Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton’s quickest lap in a dry afternoon session was 1 minute, 34.668 seconds. Max Verstappen was second, 0.397 seconds behind. Vettel, who trails Hamilton by 59 points in the driver standings, was third.

Vettel likely has to win or finish ahead of Hamilton on Sunday if he hopes to chase him down over the final four races.

Hamilton has won the last three years at a Circuit of the Americas track.