NASCAR News: Joey Logano soars to Pole at Las Vegas

Speeding around windswept Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 184.357 mph in the final round of Saturday’s time trials, Joey Logano will start from the pole for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400.

A three-time winner at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway-tied with Brad Keselowski for most among full-time active drivers-Logano beat Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson (184.225 mph) for the pole position by 0.021 seconds.

The Busch Light Pole Award was Logano’s third at Las Vegas and the 30th of his Cup Series career. It was also unexpected, based on Logano’s performance in practice.

“I didn’t expect it when I saw our short-run speed in practice,” Logano said. “We showed that we had great long-run speed. Our second run, we made an adjustment and went back out and like, ‘Oh, wow, we’re really competitive.’ The car was driving pretty good.

“So I felt really good that, but our short run, our fire-off, we weren’t real fast… and I barely made it through the first round (of qualifying) by the skin of our teeth.”

Logano said the wind, which stiffened between rounds, was a significant factor in his pole-winning run in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

“I’ve got to think it’s wind that made the difference,” Logano said. “The first run, I was pretty slow through (Turns) 1 and 2 all the way through the corner… we (must have) had a big gust the first run, or something that held us back a little bit.

“That doesn’t seem to make sense. We were really good through 1 and 2 the second time. The first time we were horrible through there.”

Starting Lineup