Joey Logano claims NASCAR Sprint Cup pole at Pocono
Joey Logano claimed his first pole position of the season in qualifying for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver set a lap of 50.112 seconds at an average speed of 179.598 mph, the fastest of the week and also a track record, thanks to the new pavement laid around the 2.5-mile tri-oval.
Logano ran 18th in the order and surprisingly his lap, which was slightly faster than his best from final practice, stood unbeaten for most the session as most of the fastest drivers from Friday could not replicate their speed on Saturday, having tested extensively at the track since Wednesday.
"I had a great car, [crew chef] Jason [Ratcliff] has done a great job all week being here," said Logano after earning his fourth career pole, and his second at Pocono.
"It's cool to get a pole here and get a new track record too, so that's really neat. Hopefully that holds up for a while. I felt like I left a little bit out there too, so I'm excited to start this thing and hopefully bring home a 'big W' [win]."
Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards, who had been second to Logano in Friday's final session, was around two tenths off his practice speed but still set a lap good enough for second after struggling earlier in the week.
Last year's Brickyard 400 winner Paul Menard was third and best Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing while Kyle Busch, seemingly more at ease than ever at Pocono, was fourth fastest ahead of his JGR team-mate Denny Hamlin, a four-time winner at the venue.
Points leader Greg Biffle ended up 13th right ahead of his Roush team-mate Matt Kenseth and BK Racing's Landon Cassill, the first to break into the 50-second bracket during the session.
Last week's winner Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick) had a surprisingly poor effort, finishing only 24th in one of his worst qualifying results of the season thus far.
Mike Bliss was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 28th, while David Stremme failed to make the field.
The session suffered a slight delay early on as officials had to work on cleaning a slick track, Scott Riggs having to run for a second time as it was deemed that conditions compromised his first qualifying attempt.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Joey Logano Gibbs Toyota 50.112s
2. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 50.317s + 0.205s
3. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 50.397s + 0.285s
4. Kyle Busch Gibbs Toyota 50.399s + 0.287s
5. Denny Hamlin Gibbs Toyota 50.408s + 0.296s
6. Mark Martin Waltrip Toyota 50.497s + 0.385s
7. Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet 50.517s + 0.405s
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 50.579s + 0.467s
9. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 50.601s + 0.489s
10. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 50.612s + 0.500s
11. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 50.659s + 0.547s
12. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 50.694s + 0.582s
13. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 50.699s + 0.587s
14. Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford 50.704s + 0.592s
15. Landon Cassill BK Toyota 50.789s + 0.677s
16. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 50.840s + 0.728s
17. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 50.851s + 0.739s
18. Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 50.890s + 0.778s
19. AJ Allmendinger Penske Dodge 50.904s + 0.792s
20. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 50.946s + 0.834s
21. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 50.979s + 0.867s
22. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 51.015s + 0.903s
23. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 51.090s + 0.978s
24. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 51.093s + 0.981s
25. David Reutimann Phoenix Chevrolet 51.115s + 1.003s
26. Casey Mears Germain Ford 51.254s + 1.142s
27. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota 51.260s + 1.148s
28. Mike Bliss Humphrey Smith Toyota 51.315s + 1.203s
29. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 51.382s + 1.270s
30. Michael McDowell Parsons Ford 51.407s + 1.295s
31. Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge 51.464s + 1.352s
32. JJ Yeley Robinson-Blakeney Toyota 51.741s + 1.629s
33. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 51.763s + 1.651s
34. David Ragan Front Row Ford 51.768s + 1.656s
35. Josh Wise Front Row Ford 51.874s + 1.762s
36. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 51.951s + 1.839s
37. Travis Kvapil BK Toyota 52.370s + 2.258s
38. Scott Riggs R3 Chevrolet 52.472s + 2.360s
39. Stacy Compton Turn One Chevrolet 52.584s + 2.472s
40. Tony Raines Baldwin Chevrolet 53.760s + 3.648s
41. Reed Sorenson FAS Lane Ford
42. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet
43. Stephen Leicht Circle Sport Chevrolet 52.834s + 2.722s
Did not qualify:
David Stremme Inception Toyota 52.940s + 2.828s
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