MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Chase Elliott won the pole Friday for the Saturday night race at Martinsville Speedway.

The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion and current co-leader turned a fast lap at 96.151 mph in the new Next Gen cars to end co-leader Ryan Blaney’s string of three consecutive poles. Blaney qualified 12th.

Aric Almirola qualified second, followed by Cole Custer, James Buescher and William Byron, who won the Truck Series race Thursday night.

Many drivers have noted that with the new car, each week presents a whole new set of set-up challenges, but Elliott said his Hendrick Motorsports team didn’t have this experience. Teams get just a short window to run practice laps and make adjustments to their cars, but Elliott said his car felt familiar.

NASCAR is in Week 2 of a three-week run at tracks shorter than a mile.