Auto Racing: Notes and quotes from Texas Motor Speedway

Maybe Friday night's qualifying run is a good sign that this is his week.

Truex will start from the pole in the Sprint Cup Samsung Mobile 500 at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Truex edged Matt Kenseth and points leader Greg Biffle with a qualifying lap time of 28.366 seconds to take the pole.

“I felt really comfortable going into qualifying that we had a shot at it,” Truex said. “It's not easy to get poles in this series. It's not easy to do anything better than everybody else out there. There's no better way to start the weekend than getting the pole.

“I've got a lot of confidence right now. I'm able to go out there and just drive the cars and have fun with it.”

Truex started from the pole at Texas in November 2007 and went on to a third-place finish.

Kenseth will start second and Biffle third on Saturday night. But both Kenseth and Truex are close behind Biffle in the points race.

Trevor Bayne was the fastest car in practice Friday. Bayne, who made his Sprint Cup debut at Texas in the fall of 2010 before becoming a star as the Daytona 500 champion a few months later. In three career starts at Texas, Bayne has finished 17th each time.

STEWART HITS WALL IN PRACTICE