Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs will be starting from the back of the field for the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which is the first race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Both drivers, representing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), will face this challenge due to precautionary adjustments made to their engine plug wires. These modifications, identified by the Toyota Racing Development team, were undertaken to avoid potential engine issues.
Truex Jr.’s No. 19 Toyota and Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota both received similar pre-race adjustments. These changes follow a previous incident involving another JGR driver, Denny Hamlin, whose No. 11 Toyota also had modifications that affected his qualifying position, resulting in a last-place start.
Gibbs had initially qualified the highest among Toyota drivers, securing the 20th position after the single-lap qualifying sessions on Saturday. However, due to the necessary engine plug wire changes, both Gibbs and Truex Jr. will now begin the race from the rear of the grid, making their task of advancing through the field significantly more difficult.
After the qualifying issues were revealed, Hamlin commented on the situation, as reported by Motorsport:
“They see a few red flags, certainly. They’ll dig into it tonight, figure it out, and get it fixed for tomorrow.”
In contrast, Michael McDowell celebrated a standout performance by securing the pole position for the Quaker State 400. Reflecting on his achievement, McDowell shared his thoughts with Newsweek:
“Yeah, I would have told you you’re lying. I think coming into this weekend, sitting on the pole in the spring race earlier in the season, I felt that pressure to come back here and have another shot at it. We executed our plan well today. As far as whether it’s an indication for tomorrow, I don’t think it’s a huge indicator of anything…”
Here are the 2024 NASCAR Atlanta qualifying results before the grid penalties for Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs were applied:
1. Michael McDowell, No. 38
2. Ryan Blaney, No. 12
3. Todd Gilliland, No. 38
4. Josh Berry, No. 4
5. Austin Cindric, No. 2
6. Kyle Larson, No. 5
7. Joey Logano, No. 22
8. Austin Dillon, No. 3
9. William Byron, No. 24
10. Chase Briscoe, No. 14
11. Alex Bowman, No. 48
12. Harrison Burton, No. 21
13. Noah Gragson, No. 10
14. Daniel Hemric, No. 31
15. Kyle Busch, No. 8
16. Chase Elliott, No. 9
17. Chris Buescher, No. 17
18. Ross Chastain, No. 1
19. Brad Keselowski, No. 6
20. Ty Gibbs, No. 54
21. Ryan Preece, No. 41
22. Martin Truex Jr., No. 19
23. Tyler Reddick, No. 45
24. Bubba Wallace, No. 23
25. Corey LaJoie, No. 7
26. Christopher Bell, No. 20
27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47
28. Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 16
29. Justin Haley, No. 51
30. Daniel Suarez, No. 99
31. Cody Ware, No. 15
32. Carson Hocevar, No. 77
33. Erik Jones, No. 43
34. Zane Smith, No. 71
35. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42
36. BJ McLeod, No. 78
37. JJ Yeley, No. 44
38. Denny Hamlin, No. 11
NASCAR Cup Series: Bad News For Joe Gibbs Racing As Truex Jr And Gibbs Relegated To Back Of Grid
