Truex wins pole position

There's nothing like getting back to the track.

Martin Truex Jr. and his Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing team were stripped of 50 points and crew chief Kevin Manion was fined $50,000 after their No. 1 Chevrolet failed post-race inspection last weekend at Texas.

How's this for a remedy?

Truex used a lap at 135.120 mph to win the pole for Sunday's Checker 500 at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.

The pole is the third of the season for Truex and fourth of his career. In his two previous starts from the pole this season, he finished 11th at Daytona and 26th at Atlanta.

"I keep saying this but it has been a real tough season on us and it feels good to come out here and have a good day," said Truex, who is moving to Michael Waltrip Racing next season.

"Hopefully, we can finish out the deal this weekend. I love coming to Phoenix, it has been a good race track for us and I look forward to great things on Sunday.

"It isn't for a lack of effort or a lack of speed; we just have made tons of mistakes and have had lots of things go wrong."

Sprint Cup Series leader Jimmie Johnson couldn't wait to get back in his No. 48 Chevrolet this weekend after wrecking out of last weekend's race at Texas after just three laps. Although he managed to get back out, he finished 38th and lost 111 points of his lead over Mark Martin in the standings.

How was his day Friday?

Johnson qualified third-fastest - best among the drivers still in the hunt of for the championship. Johnson has won three of the past four races at Phoenix. Martin won this year's spring race when Johnson started 10th and finished fourth.

"This race team is just a great group of guys that work their guts out week in and week out. Last weekend, circumstances really took the points away from us," Johnson said.

"We don't have a feeling that we messed up or we did something wrong or we didn't perform - we only made three laps."

Kurt Busch qualified second, Kasey Kahne was fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth. Martin, who trails Johnson by 73 points with two races left, will line up 10th.

Hornaday wins fourth trucks series title: Ron Hornaday has won a NASCAR-record fourth trucks series championship with a fourth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.

The 51-year-old Hornaday started Friday night's race with a 197-point lead over Matt Crafton, and needed only to finish ahead of Crafton to lock up the title.

Hornaday did it by overcoming an early pit road penalty, giving him his first championship since 2007. Hornaday also won titles in 1996 and 1998, and finished second last season. Crafton, meanwhile, finished eighth.

The race was won by Kevin Harvick, owner of Hornaday's truck team. Kyle Busch finished second.

The Associated Press