NASCAR Atlanta: Joey Logano tops controversial qualifying day
Joey Logano followed up his Daytona 500 victory last weekend by taking pole position for the second NASCAR Sprint Cup round of the season at Atlanta
The Penske Ford driver edged reigning champion Kevin Harvick by 0.131s in the final segment of qualifying on Friday, while Jamie McMurray and Denny Hamlin completed the second row.
"In pratice we were faster on our second run, so I knew that the grip would stay in the tyres for at least two runs," said Logano.
"I didn't know about the third run, but apparently [the grip stayed] for the third run also.
"It was probably right at the limit, though. Probably the next run would have taken a pretty big jump down."
BIG NAMES FAIL TO RUN
The other major talking point of the session was the fact that 13 cars failed to clear technical inspection before qualifying, including Cup champions Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart.
With this weekend marking the first event running to the new 2015 technical regulations, several teams had to make multiple attempts at passing the new scrutineering process.
NASCAR officials delayed the start of qualifying by 15 minutes to try to allow teams a chance to pass the inspection process and still make it out for the first segment of qualifying, but in the end several missed the cut.
Cup series director Richard Buck said that some teams had to make several visits to inspection because they were "pushing it" on the technical side, but the saga did not go down well with some of the big name drivers to miss out.
"Yes we are pushing the limits, but something is wrong here," said four-time champion Gordon.
"I'm embarrassed for our series right now that this has happened."
Kenseth added that he had "a hard time believing it was the teams" at fault, while Stewart described the day as a "total waste".
"I don't know what to say," said Stewart. "We spent all of our practice working on qualifying, and we didn't even get a chance to make a lap.
"If we would have known this was going to happen, we could have worked on race set-up. It was a total waste of a day at the track."
While NASCAR's start rules mean that the high-profile drivers who missed out are guaranteed to be in the race, Mike Wallace, Matt DiBenedetto, Michael Annett and Reed Sorenson missed out on making the cut.
ATLANTA STARTING GRID
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 28.477s | - |
2 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 28.608s | 0.131s |
3 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 28.633s | 0.156s |
4 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.666s | 0.189s |
5 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.705s | 0.228s |
6 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 28.733s | 0.256s |
7 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 28.734s | 0.257s |
8 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 28.828s | 0.351s |
9 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 28.844s | 0.367s |
10 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 28.854s | 0.377s |
11 | A.J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 28.953s | 0.476s |
12 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 28.965s | 0.488s |
13 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 28.826s | 0.349s |
14 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Chevrolet | 28.828s | 0.351s |
15 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 28.853s | 0.376s |
16 | Justin Allgaier | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 28.870s | 0.393s |
17 | David Ragan | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.951s | 0.474s |
18 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 28.982s | 0.505s |
19 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 29.036s | 0.559s |
20 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 29.073s | 0.596s |
21 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 29.079s | 0.602s |
22 | Brett Moffitt | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 29.080s | 0.603s |
23 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 29.114s | 0.637s |
24 | Michael McDowell | Leavine Family Racing | Ford | 29.247s | 0.770s |
25 | Clint Bowyer | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 29.254s | 0.777s |
26 | David Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 29.257s | 0.780s |
27 | Mike Bliss | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 29.279s | 0.802s |
28 | Joe Nemechek | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 29.305s | 0.828s |
29 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 29.348s | 0.871s |
30 | J.J. Yeley | BK Racing | Toyota | 29.460s | 0.983s |
31 | Brendan Gaughan | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 29.471s | 0.994s |
32 | Michael Annett | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 29.515s | 1.038s |
33 | Josh Wise | Phil Parsons Racing | Ford | 30.150s | 1.673s |
34 | Ron Hornaday Jr. | The Motorsports Group | Chevrolet | 30.605s | 2.128s |
35 | Jeb Burton | BK Racing | Toyota | - | - |
36 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | - | - |
37 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | - | - |
38 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | - | - |
39 | Regan Smith | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | - | - |
40 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | - | - |
41 | Cole Whitt | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | - | - |
42 | Alex Bowman | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | - | - |
43 | Landon Cassill | Hillman Smith Motorsports | Chevrolet | - | - |
44 | Mike Wallace | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | - | - |
45 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota | - | - |
46 | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | - | - |
47 | Reed Sorenson | RAB Racing | Toyota | - | - |
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