Kurt Busch Qualifies 19th in Martinsville

October 26, 2012

Kurt Busch will start 19th in Sunday's Tums Fast Relief 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway. 

In Friday afternoon's time trials, Busch's No. 78 Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet covered the .526-mile short track in 19.572 seconds at 96.750 miles per hour. 

"You really pay the penalty here when you slow down just a little," said Busch, who was 11th fastest in the day's only practice session. "But this is where we're at and we know what we have to do on Sunday, and that's to march forward just as we did last week in Kansas. We have two important practices on Saturday to get the Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet prepared for the main event."

The pole winner was Jimmie Johnson (19.402 at 97.598). Rounding out the top-10 in order were: Brian Vickers, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard and Aric Almirola.  

Sunday's race will be televised on ESPN, beginning with a 45-minute prerace show at 11 a.m. MT (1 p.m. ET).