Joey Logano wins the pole for the New Hampshire Playoff race
Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
LOUDON, N.H.—Team Penske’s Joey Logano thrilled his enthusiastic local fanbase turning a pole-winning lap at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday afternoon, the Connecticut-native claiming the first NASCAR Cup Series pole position of his career at his “hometown” New England track.
The three-time and reigning series champ posted a lap of 130.622 mph around the one-mile track – the second Busch Light Pole Position of the season for the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang. He’ll start alongside his Penske teammate, 2023 series champ Ryan Blaney on the front row.
Fords swept the top three starting positions on the grid for Sunday’s Mobil 1 301 (2 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with the Wood Brothers team driver Josh Berry rolling off third after holding the top speed for much of the qualifying session. He’ll line up next to 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota on the second row.
“The expectation is to win all the time, that’s why I’m here, that’s why [crew chief] Paul [Wolfe} is here, that’s why [team owner] Roger [Penske] is here and they expect us to win,” Logano said. “The expectation is always to be first, but it’s a hard sport and there’s one in 40 chances to make it happen.
“At Loudon, we expect to be fast,” he continued. “Paul has always had fast cars here. Compared to the last few years, our cars have been really fast. We haven’t capitalized on it but we’ve had speed good enough to win the last few races here. Hoping to have just a nice smooth race tomorrow and maintain track position.”
Logano is a two-time Loudon winner claiming the famed “lobster” trophies in 2009 and 2014.
Six of the 12 Playoff drivers qualified among the top-10, including Logano, Blaney, Reddick, Regular Season Champion William Byron (fifth), Ross Chastain (eighth) and Denny Hamlin (ninth), who leads the championship standings coming into New Hampshire – the first of the three second round Playoff races.
Bubba Wallace, who will start 14th, Kyle Larson (16th), Chase Briscoe (18th), defending New Hampshire race winner Christopher Bell (19th), Austin Cindric (22nd) and Chase Elliott (27th) round out the other Playoff contenders on the grid.
Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing, in particular, has had a fast start to the 10-race Playoff run, sweeping the first round – JGR’s Briscoe, Hamlin and Bell – taking the opening three trophies.
The last time a Ford won at New Hampshire was in 2021 (Aric Almirola). The last time a Chevrolet won was 2014 (Kevin Harvick).
“I think we’ve got a good shot,” Logano said. “I feel like Loudon is one of those race tracks that’s in our wheelhouse, a flat one-mile type track seems like it is a Team Penske kind of thing. Hopefully we’re able to translate this pole into a win, because that’s what really matters. It’s just a good starting spot, there’s no points for it. It’s really about the points or getting a win and moving on to the next round.”
NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Line Up by Row
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Mobil 1 301
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 9/20/2025 @ 05:04 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Jeff Burton 07/13/97 2:42:35 117.134
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 29.159 130.622
2 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Menards/Libman Ford 29.329 129.865
Row 2: 3 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 29.354 129.754
4 45 Tyler Reddick (P) SiriusXM Toyota 29.356 129.745
Row 3: 5 24 William Byron (P) Raptor Chevrolet 29.373 129.670
6 77 Carson Hocevar Delaware Life Chevrolet 29.398 129.560
Row 4: 7 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 29.402 129.542
8 1 Ross Chastain (P) Kubota Chevrolet 29.405 129.529
Row 5: 9 11 Denny Hamlin (P) Progressive Toyota 29.409 129.511
10 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Jockey Infinite Cool Underwear Chevrolet 29.409 129.511
Row 6: 11 71 Michael McDowell Gainbridge Chevrolet 29.424 129.445
12 16 AJ Allmendinger Campers Inn RV Chevrolet 29.467 129.256
Row 7: 13 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 29.477 129.213
14 23 Bubba Wallace (P) McDonald's Toyota 29.485 129.178
Row 8: 15 17 Chris Buescher Kroger Health/Flublok Ford 29.488 129.164
16 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 29.496 129.129
Row 9: 17 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 29.500 129.112
18 19 Chase Briscoe (P) Bass Pro Shops Toyota 29.511 129.064
Row 10: 19 20 Christopher Bell (P) Rheem Toyota 29.527 128.994
20 38 Zane Smith Long John Silver's Ford 29.547 128.906
Row 11: 21 7 Justin Haley NationsGuard Chevrolet 29.559 128.854
22 2 Austin Cindric (P) Autotrader Ford 29.592 128.710
Row 12: 23 60 Ryan Preece Mohawk Northeast Inc. Ford 29.601 128.671
24 8 Kyle Busch Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet 29.614 128.615
Row 13: 25 35 Riley Herbst # BeatBox Toyota 29.620 128.589
26 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 29.632 128.537
Row 14: 27 9 Chase Elliott (P) NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 29.659 128.420
28 3 Austin Dillon Toys for Tots Chevrolet 29.681 128.325
Row 15: 29 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 29.756 128.001
30 10 Ty Dillon Sea Best/BJ's Wholesale Club Chevrolet 29.760 127.984
Row 16: 31 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 29.773 127.928
32 99 Daniel Suarez Choice Privileges Chevrolet 29.788 127.864
Row 17: 33 4 Noah Gragson Farm Rich Ford 29.940 127.214
34 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet 29.995 126.981
Row 18: 35 51 Cody Ware Parts Plus Ford 30.123 126.442
36 34 Todd Gilliland Grillo's Pickles Ford 30.254 125.894
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 15 0 Ford 12 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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