Joey Logano will start from the front row for the third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race after claiming the pole Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a speed of 184.357mph (29.291s).
It’s his second pole in three races.
“Paul [Wolfe] got her tuned up for me pretty good,” Logano said of his crew chief making adjustments between qualifying rounds. “I didn’t think that was going to be enough because the second round just feels different, right? And you’re in the car and you’re like, ‘Gah, it’s not going to be good enough.’ But the tires fall off a little bit.
“It’s always important to start up front in the Pennzoil 400 and we got that with our (Pennzoil) Mustang today. That’s front row every start so far this year, so I’m proud of this race team. I’m proud of everyone’s efforts, and obviously, when you bring a new Mustang to the racetrack, you’re always a little bit uncertain of what it’s going to be, and a lot to learn obviously with the Dark Horse Mustang as well, but so far so good in qualifying.”
It is the 30th career pole for Logano in the Cup Series. It will be the third time he’s led the field to the green flag at Las Vegas.
Kyle Larson will join Logano on the front row. Larson qualified second at 184.225mph.
Austin Cindric qualified third (184.093mph), William Byron fourth (183.911mph), Bubba Wallace fifth (183.648mph), Chase Briscoe sixth (183.486mph), Martin Truex Jr. seventh (183.169mph) and Ty Gibbs eighth (183.150mph).
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Chris Buescher qualified ninth (182.927mph) and Christopher Bell completed the top 10 (182.556mph).
Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team are the defending race winners.
Saturday was the first time teams qualified with the new procedures for this season on non-superspeedway racetracks. The drivers in Group A qualified for a starting position on the outside row, while the drivers in Group B qualified for a starting position on the inside row.
That procedure is used just for the drivers who do not advance to the final round (11th through 40th).
Chase Elliott qualified 11th and Michael McDowell, 12th. Carson Hocevar qualified 14th, which is a career-best on a non-superspeedway racetrack. Derek Kraus qualified 33rd for his Cup Series debut.
Three drivers did not post a qualifying lap.
Ryan Preece is going to a backup car after he crashed in practice. He spun on his own in Turn 2 and hit the outside wall with the left side of his Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
Justin Haley did not post a lap when his Rick Ware Racing team pushed his car to the garage after practice with a steering issue. JJ Yeley was the other driver who didn’t make a qualifying attempt for NY Racing Team.
Full results to come