Logano earns second pole of NASCAR Cup season at windy Las Vegas
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — For the second NASCAR Cup Series race this young season, Joey Logano will start on the pole.
Speeding around windswept Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 29.291 seconds (184.357 mph) in the final round of Saturday’s time trials, Logano will occupy the top spot in the grid for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
A three-time winner at the 1.5-mile intermediate speedway—tied with Brad Keselowski for most among full-time active drivers—Logano beat Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson (184.225 mph) for the pole position by 0.021 seconds.
The Busch Light Pole Award was Logano’s his third at Las Vegas and the 30th of his career. It was also unexpected, based on Logano’s performance in practice.
“I didn’t expect it when I saw our short-run speed in practice,” Logano said. “We showed that we had great long-run speed. Our second run, we made an adjustment and went back out and like, ‘Oh, wow, we’re really competitive.’ The car was driving pretty good.
“So I felt really good that, but our short run, our fire-off, we weren’t real fast… and I barely made it through the first round (of qualifying) by the skin of our teeth.”
Logano said the wind, which stiffened between rounds, was a significant factor in his pole-winning run in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.
“I’ve got to think it’s wind that made the difference,” Logano said. “The first run, I was pretty slow through (Turns) 1 and 2 all the way through the corner… we (must have) had a big gust the first run, or something that held us back a little bit.
“That doesn’t seem to make sense. We were really good through 1 and 2 the second time. The first time we were horrible through there.”
Logano’s Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric (184.093 mph) qualified third, followed by DAYTONA 500 winner William Byron (183.911 mph), as Fords and Chevrolets split the top four grid positions.
Bubba Wallace (183.648 mph) was fifth in the fastest Toyota. Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell will start sixth through 10th, respectively in Sunday’s race.
Logano, who won the pole for the DAYTONA 500, qualified second for last Sunday’s race at Atlanta using a webbed glove on his left hand, presumably for an aerodynamic advantage by blocking more airflow through the car.
But the glove did not conform to mandated safety standards. For the violation, he lost his starting spot and incurred a fine of $10,000.
“I’m going to take a portion of the responsibility for that, too,” said Logano. “I didn’t build the glove. I didn’t make it on my own—I can’t sew, OK? That’s what it was, and we had a conversation about it.
“What I’m proud about is that, as a team, even though it was a tough situation to us and hard to go through, embarrassing for sure, but the fact that we got though
it and just move on and focus on the next week. We showed we have speed in our race car and put it on the pole.
“To me, it’s a statement-type lap.”
Starting Line Up by Row
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 3/2/2024 @ 04:04 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Joey Logano 03/03/19 2:35:11 154.849
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 22 Joey Logano Pennzoil Ford 29.291 184.357
2 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 29.312 184.225
Row 2: 3 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 29.333 184.093
4 24 William Byron Z HP Chevrolet 29.362 183.911
Row 3: 5 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota 29.404 183.648
6 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 29.430 183.486
Row 4: 7 19 Martin Truex Jr. Resers Fine Foods Toyota 29.481 183.169
8 54 Ty Gibbs He Gets Us Toyota 29.484 183.150
Row 5: 9 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 29.520 182.927
10 20 Christopher Bell Interstate Batteries Toyota 29.580 182.556
Row 6: 11 9 Chase Elliott LLumar Chevrolet 29.357 183.943
12 34 Michael McDowell Loves Travel Stops Ford 29.413 183.592
Row 7: 13 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Smiths/Tree Top Chevrolet 29.410 183.611
14 77 Carson Hocevar # Premier Security Chevrolet 29.479 183.181
Row 8: 15 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Pennzoil Ford 29.438 183.436
16 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 29.534 182.840
Row 9: 17 7 Corey LaJoie USANA Chevrolet 29.441 183.418
18 45 Tyler Reddick Nasty Beast Toyota 29.587 182.513
Row 10: 19 3 Austin Dillon BetMGM Chevrolet 29.498 183.063
20 1 Ross Chastain Kubota Chevrolet 29.592 182.482
Row 11: 21 8 Kyle Busch BetMGM Chevrolet 29.554 182.716
22 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 29.620 182.309
Row 12: 23 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 29.575 182.587
24 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 29.620 182.309
Row 13: 25 6 Brad Keselowski Solomon Plumbing Ford 29.689 181.886
26 4 Josh Berry # Mobil 1 Take 5 Ford 29.647 182.143
Row 14: 27 42 John Hunter Nemechek Albertsons Toyota 29.730 181.635
28 11 Denny Hamlin Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota 29.654 182.100
Row 15: 29 21 Harrison Burton Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 29.821 181.080
30 10 Noah Gragson Fanttik Ford 29.795 181.238
Row 16: 31 38 Todd Gilliland gener8tor Ford 29.884 180.699
32 15 Kaz Grala # N29 Capital Partners Ford 29.795 181.238
Row 17: 33 16 Derek Kraus Western States Flooring Chevrolet 30.173 178.968
34 31 Daniel Hemric South Point Hotel and Casino Chevrolet 29.936 180.385
Row 18: 35 51 Justin Haley Ohanafy Ford 0.000 0.000
36 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 19: 37 44 JJ Yeley(i) Urban Youth Racing School Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 15 0 Ford 14 0
Toyota 8 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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