NASCAR News: Logano powers to Cup pole in Atlanta

Joey Logano (pictured) led an armada of Fords into the top eight starting spot for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway.

Logano clocked in at 30.979 seconds (178.960 mph) in Friday’s qualifying session to secure his first Busch Light Pole Award of the season, his third at EchoPark and the 32nd of his career.

Logano matched the time posted earlier by Josh Berry of Wood Brothers Racing, but the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford got the nod for the pole on an owner points tiebreaker.

Ryan Blaney posted the third fastest lap at 178.937 mph, followed by Austin Cindric at 178.626 mph, as Team Penske drivers and the Penske affiliate Wood Brothers locked out the first two rows for Sunday’s race, the opening round of the 32-driver In-Season Challenge.

Logano faces ninth-place qualifier Alex Bowman in the first round.

“Being up front and controlling this race is the name of the game,” said Logano, who won last year’s second Atlanta race, which was held in September. “If you can get up there and solidify the top position, I feel like you can stay there. The thing is, there are a lot of ‘What ifs?’ that play out in this race, a lot of cautions that may be timed in a different way, where it can jumble up the field.

“It’s hard to say you’re going to be leading every lap… The good thing is that we controlled what we could today. I’m super proud of Team Penske, Roush Yates (Engines), Ford, obviously to keep our Mustangs up there. It really shows the ability to repeat from car to car, which is really hard to do.

“We tied with the 21 (Berry) and the other cars were within a couple hundredths of a second.”

Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Cole Custer and Zane Smith completed the Ford sweep of the top eight starting spots.

Bowman drove the fastest Chevrolet to ninth on the grid, and Pocono Raceway winner Chase Briscoe was 10th in the quickest Toyota.

Denny Hamlin, top seed in the In-Season Challenge, qualified 33rd but expects his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to fare better in race trim. Nevertheless, Hamlin starts 19 spots behind Ty Dillon, the driver he has to beat to advance to the second round of the tournament.

Briscoe, the second seed, starts 17 positions ahead of close friend Noah Gragson, his first-round opponent.

Qualifying was interrupted by a 30-minute lightning hold, but no rain hit the track despite storms in the area.

Starting Lineup