MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Friday’s festivities for the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway featured two different, but very distinct, aspects of competition: high speeds and high drama.

The speeds came courtesy of cool temperatures that led to the top eight qualifiers either tying or breaking the former track record of 20.100 seconds (94.209 seconds) set by Stacy Puryear in 2018.

Among those eight, Josh Berry was the fastest of all, earning his first ValleyStar Credit Union 300 pole with a lap of 19.927 seconds (95.027 mph) in the No. 88 All Things Automotive Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.

Not just because he won the pole, but because of the format change back to single-car qualifying from group qualifying, Berry was all smiles at the results of on-track activities at the Virginia paper clip.

“I do definitely enjoy this style of qualifying myself, way more than group qualifying,” Berry noted. “Hats off to Martinsville for all the changes they’ve made and how they’ve really worked hard on this event. We love this event. Dale (Earnhardt Jr., team owner) loves this event. We want to be here a long time.

“To see the speeds up … record speeds; that’s fun for all of us. We take pride in marks like that.”

In contrast, the drama was fueled by the return of the “top 20 lock-in rule,” which guaranteed that the fastest 20 drivers from two-lap qualifications start in positions one through 20 for Saturday’s feature.

That meant that while there were plenty of heavy-hitters who earned starting spots in the first 10 rows for the finale, there were even more drivers who will have to race their ways into the field.

Drivers from 21st on back will be split into a pair of 50-lap Last Chance Showdowns, which will take place Saturday afternoon prior to the 200-lap feature. The top 10 from each LCS will move into the field.

Matt Leicht was the first driver below the cut line, missing the automatic transfer by .014 seconds with his No. 2m Gear Headz Unlimited-sponsored machine. He’ll start on the pole of LCS No. 1.

However, that doesn’t mean Leicht has an easy road ahead, even though he said he has a fast car.

“I think I have a car that can win,” Leicht noted. “It’s just going to take a lot of luck. Everybody has to have luck to get around this place and not get wrecked. Last year, we got killed. We’re just going to keep our wheels and fenders on it and be there at the end.”

NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series racer Brennan Poole – driving a late model prepared by On Point Motorsports, his Truck team – was 22nd-quick in qualifying and will be the pole man in LCS No. 2.

Late model heavy-hitters Kres VanDyke and Jake Crum were 23rd and 25th, respectively, while Mike Looney could only muster the 27th-fastest lap in time trials, showing the true level of difficulty of making the Martinsville field.

Young gun Brenden Queen was 29th in the qualifying order, though he admitted he knew his No. 03 would struggle in time trials, as he had a two-barrel engine in the car instead of a four-barrel motor.

“Coming into a weekend where we expected to be 15th to 30th, due to us running the two barrel versus the four barrel, we knew qualifying would be a challenge,” Queen said. “I know our motor will race well, because it will keep the brakes on the car longer than four barrels will. We honestly shocked ourselves in practice, because we were 18th, and suddenly realized we might have a shot at the top 20 if we picked up a little bit.

“The only problem was that we pretty much ran the same lap time in qualifying that we ran in practice, and a lot of other people picked up.”

Despite starting fifth in his LCS, Queen knows that if he stays out of trouble, he’ll race in the big show. It doesn’t mean he’ll be free of nerves beforehand, however.

“If we had locked in, I’d be able to enjoy my night a lot more. I’d go to the hotel and relax and not have to worry about anything but showing up and racing tomorrow night,” Queen said. “But now we’ve got to come back and run a 50-lap heat race to make sure we’re in the show.

“It’s so stressful, because if you cut a tire or have any sort of mishap, you’re probably out,” he added. “We have to be pretty much perfect to move on, but I believe in this team. We can make the show.”

The contrast of emotions between those on the outside looking in and those locked into the field was unmistakable in the garage after qualifying, and duly noted by outside polesitter Layne Riggs.

“It’s a huge relief to be locked into the race,” Riggs said. “It takes all the pressure off and lets you breathe. At that point, you can just focus on what you need to do to get a grandfather clock.

“I’m sure glad I’m not one of the ones below the top 20. For them, it’s gonna be a long day tomorrow.”