Joey Logano captures Martinsville pole, Truex second

Logano, who failed to advance to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs this season, dominated all three rounds of Sunday’s knockout qualifying to win the pole for Sunday afternoon’s First Data 500.

The pole is Logano’s second of the season and 19th of his career. His previous pole this season came at the spring race Phoenix.

“We’re just going to live in the moment right now,” Logano said. “My guys gave me a piece and I can win with today. Starting up front is always a nice thing to have. You can set your own pace and take care of your car.

“I feel good about the car we got this week and it’s something, like I said, we can race with.”

Logano said there will be a “lot of unknowns” with today’s race, particularly with the cold temperatures and the race likely to end under the lights.

“It’s kind of a little bit of a question,” he said. “We’ll guess as good as we can and we think we’re smart but we won’t know until the race starts.”

Series points leader Martin Truex Jr. will start second, Chase Elliott third, Ryan Blaney fourth and Clint Bowyer fifth.

Rounding out the Top 12 starters are Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne.

Round 2

Logano went out early in the second 10-minute knockout qualifying session and once again led the way with an average lap speed of 96.755 mph.

This time, it was Bowyer would came in a surprising second. Kurt Busch was third, Elliott was fourth and Larson fifth.

Also advancing to the final round were Hamlin, Truex, Keselowski, Blaney, Almirola, Jones and Kahne.

Playoff contender Jimmie Johnson spun in Turn 3 with just under three minutes left in the session and didn’t post a qualifying speed.

He will be credited the 24th starting position but it appeared to flat-spot his tires and if his No. 48 team changes tires before this afternoon’s race, he will have to start the race from the rear of the field.

The caution for Johnson’s spin also interrupted Kevin Harvick’s qualifying lap during the round, which may have cost him some speed. He eventually made it out for another attempt but could only muster 13th-place.

Among the others who failed to advance were Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Danica Patrick.

“Totally different day today than it was yesterday for practice,” Kyle Busch said. “We’ll see if we can drive up through there and be there when the pay window opens.”

Round 1

Logano, who was fastest in Saturday’s final practice session, led the way in the first 20-minute session of knockout qualifying, posting an average single lap speed of 96.460 mph.

Almirola ended up a surprising second (96.327 mph). Kenseth was third, Kahne fourth and Michael McDowell completed the top-five.

All eight remaining playoff drivers advanced to Round 2.

Among the drivers who failed to advance were Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, A.J. Allmendinger and Chris Buescher.

“I’m not really sure what we were missing. This track has been a tough one for me through the years,” Buescher said. “I was pretty surprised with how many laps everybody made.”

Most of the drivers who immediately got on track when the session began did not take laps at full speed, instead electing to scuff their tires. Temperatures in the first session were around 45 degrees.

Ty Dillon said he didn’t think running extra laps would cause anyone problems at the start of the race because the temperatures were so cold and would only go down as the race goes on later this afternoon.

All cars completed inspection prior to the start of Round 1, although Hamlin was the last car to pass the Laser Inspection Station, less than 10 minutes prior to the start.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	22	Joey Logano	Ford	19.622		96.504
2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	19.627	0.005	96.479
3	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	19.636	0.014	96.435
4	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	19.700	0.078	96.122
5	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	19.702	0.080	96.112
6	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	19.707	0.085	96.088
7	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	19.712	0.090	96.063
8	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	19.772	0.150	95.772
9	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	19.786	0.164	95.704
10	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	19.820	0.198	95.540
11	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	19.844	0.222	95.424
12	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	19.947	0.325	94.932
13	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	19.736	0.114	95.946
14	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	19.739	0.117	95.932
15	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	19.746	0.124	95.898
16	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	19.751	0.129	95.874
17	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	19.767	0.145	95.796
18	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	19.791	0.169	95.680
19	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	19.792	0.170	95.675
20	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	19.793	0.171	95.670
21	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	19.795	0.173	95.661
22	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	19.808	0.186	95.598
23	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	19.833	0.211	95.477
24	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	20.126	0.504	94.087
25	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	19.779	0.157	95.738
26	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	19.791	0.169	95.680
27	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	19.792	0.170	95.675
28	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	19.799	0.177	95.641
29	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	19.810	0.188	95.588
30	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	19.871	0.249	95.295
31	38	David Ragan	Ford	19.880	0.258	95.252
32	15	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	19.885	0.263	95.228
33	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	19.916	0.294	95.079
34	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	19.921	0.299	95.055
35	83	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	19.971	0.349	94.817
36	23	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	19.987	0.365	94.742
37	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	20.027	0.405	94.552
38	51	Kyle Weatherman	Chevrolet	20.226	0.604	93.622
39	66	Carl Long	Chevrolet	20.410	0.788	92.778
40	7	Hermie Sadler	Chevrolet	20.585	0.963	91.989