Jun 24, 2023, 05:42 PM ET

LEBANON, Tenn. — Ross Chastain smiled and conceded he had no idea how having the No. 1 pit box selection would be for Sunday’s Ally 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.

“I’d never had it before,” he said.

Chastain earned it with honors Saturday, claiming the Busch Light Pole in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet with a blazing 160.687 mph lap in qualifying — a full 1 mph better than the field.

He earned the right to lead the field to green for the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career — the first time a Trackhouse Racing car has ever started on pole.

“Definitely qualifying as a whole has not been a strong suit in my life, so a lot of work I’ve put into it and not a lot of payoff, not a lot of reward,” the 30-year old Floridian said. “Even the times I have put it together in Round 1, I’ve never been able to put Round 2 together in a way that I’m proud of, or I feel I did right by.

“And no matter how good the rest of the year goes, I will always have a memory of today,” Chastain added with a smile.

Tyler Reddick will start alongside Chastain in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley will start third — a career-best effort for the 24-year-old — alongside the reigning Cup Series champion, Penske Racing’s Joey Logano.

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. — ranked second and first in the championship standings, respectively — will start on Row 3. Their teammates Kyle Larson (Hendrick) and Denny Hamlin (JGR) will roll off seventh and eighth, and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Chastain’s teammate Daniel Suarez were ninth and 10th in final qualifying.

Defending race winner Chase Elliott just missed advancing to the final round and will start his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 14th.

“We’re in Nashville, this is where Trackhouse was formed,” Chastain said. “It was started here with [team owner] Justin [Marks] living here. We are Nashville’s team. … To have it happen here is amazing.”

Defending champ Chase Elliott Looks to repeat

Defending Nashville Superspeedway winner Elliott arrives in Tennessee eager to defend his victory for sentimental reasons, but also needing to take the trophy for his season’s playoff hopes. The 2020 series champion is ranked 27th in the championship standings, having missed seven races this season — six for injury and one for penalty.

With only 10 races left to set the 16-driver playoff field, the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet likely needs to win a race to earn that automatic bid into the formal championship hunt. But the 27-year-old arrived in Nashville confident in his team’s approach for this playoff push.

“I think just being in that nice sweet spot of pushing but not pushing too far, and pushing yourself and your team, but not pushing them too far,” Elliott said of his mindset. “I think there is a balance there where I feel like we’ve done the best and had the best results and I think that’s just where we need to stay, personally.

“When we do our jobs at that level and to the best of our abilities, I feel like it’s been plenty good enough to go and contend. We just have to fall into that rhythm and just do our thing.”

Truex rides Victory Lane momentum through off week

With his victory in the series’ last race — at Sonoma, California — two weeks ago, Martin Truex Jr. has taken over the Cup Series championship lead for the first time since 2021. He has earned a pair of regular-season wins in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Dover and Sonoma) and also won the exhibition Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum to kick off the season in February.

“Honestly, just feeling really great about the team and what we’ve been able to do this year,” Truex said. “I feel like we’re back. Two wins and a lot of time running upfront and leading laps, that’s where we need to be and deserve to be. After last year, it’s a good feeling to be back.”

Truex has finished Top 10 in half the season’s 16 races, including five of the past six. He’s finished Top 3 in the previous three races. And only two drivers — William Byron and Kyle Larson — have led more laps (434). His five Top 5s already exceed the total (four) from 2022.

It’s an upswing Truex is enjoying. And expectations are high — including this weekend. Last year at Nashville, he won both stages and led 82 laps but finished 22nd.

“Everybody in the garage wants to be there, that’s where we want to be and anytime any team is in the position you feel like you’re doing great things,” Truex said. “This is a really difficult sport. It’s hard to win these races. It’s hard to be consistent at all these different race tracks. My team’s doing a great job. I’m just trying to be smart about things, and do what I know how to do which is be consistent, be smart, get our wins when we can and be in position.

“So far, so good.”

RFK Racing pushes to put both cars in the playoffs

With cars ranked 11th (Chris Buescher) and 12th (Brad Keselowski) in the championship standings, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team co-owner Keselowski said he was optimistic about the pair’s chances of qualifying for the 2023 Playoffs. But he acknowledges it’s a big step for the team.

Although both drivers and their teams are still looking for that first trophy of 2023, they have combined for six Top-5s (three each) and 13 Top-10 finishes (Buescher, seven and Keselowski six) — a huge improvement over last season leading up to this 10-race push to the playoffs.

Keselowski has already equaled his Top-10 total of a year ago — with 20 races remaining. And his three Top 5s exceeds the lone one he posted in 2022. Similarly, Buescher’s three Top-5 finishes equal his 2022 season total and his seven Top 10s are well within the 10 he had a year ago.

“We’ve got some good vibes going,” said the 2012 series champion Keselowski, who will start Sunday’s race 24th. “Chris is on a really big hot streak. He’s run really well here the last three or four races and been in contention to win. He won a stage in the Coke 600, won part of the All Star Race and ran really good at Sonoma, just really good energy there making their way up in the points. A lot of excitement there.

“Been up and down with my car, the 6 car, and felt like we were really strong at Charlotte and not as good as I’d like to be a couple other places. But either way, it’s better to be in than to be out, looking in. But we’re not as comfortable as we’d like to be. We’d like to have wins. That’s really what the sport is about.

“We’ve done a great job elevating ourselves from irrelevant to relevant, but I don’t want to stop there. We’ve got another step to take.”