Joey Logano wins pole position as Ford dominates the qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Joey Logano led the way for the Ford Mustangs, topping the speed chart and winning the Busch Light Pole at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Ford cars put on an impressive display of speed as they swept the top eight qualifying positions.
Joey Logano led the Team Penske trio, who grabbed the top three positions. He won the pole, setting a lap with an average top speed of 177.374 mph. Austin Cindric missed out on the pole as he set a lap with an average speed of 177.340 mph. Ryan Blaney ended up third, setting a speed of 177.215 mph. This is only the second time in Team Penske's history that the drivers will start the race in 1-2-3.
Penske Power in Atlanta! đź’Ş
@Team_Penske sweeps the first three spots on the starting grid for @ATLMotorSpdwy! (22-2-12) https://t.co/ItgfLwvkrx
Brad Keselowski (176.995 mph) qualified fourth and Aric Almirola (176.989 mph) rounded off the top five positions. Kevin Harvick (176.769 mph), who leads the driver's standings, qualified sixth. Chris Buescher (176.746 mph) and Chase Briscoe (176.583 mph) managed to hang on with the leading Fords.
A big day for Ford in Atlanta!
The Blue Ovals will start in positions 1-8 Sunday, led by @joeylogano.
It’s the first time Ford has swept the top eight starting spots since 1965! #BuschLightPole https://t.co/kpeDJkWx1x
Kyle Larson was the fastest Chevrolet driver, qualifying in the ninth position with a speed of 176.213 mph. Christopher Bell was the leading Toyota driver, rounding off the top 10 qualifiers. Bell's qualifying session wasn't a tidy effort, with the #20 driver spinning in the final round of qualifying.
William Byron, who is on a two-race winning streak, failed to make it into the final round. The #24 driver was relegated to the 11th position. His teammate Alex Bowman will start the race in 15th position while substitute driver Josh Berry lines up in 21st position.
Other notable drivers, like Denny Hamlin (14th), Tyler Reddick (16th), Kyle Busch (17th), Ross Chastain (18th), and Martin Truex Jr. (29th) failed to make an impression in the qualifying session.
The Qualifying session wasn't incident-free as Rookie Ty Gibbs made contact with the outside wall and BJ McLeod spun his #78 car. Both drivers avoided major damage and will start on the final row.
Joey Logano hopeful to continue the strong pace into the race
Joey Logano grabbed his 28th career pole at Atlanta, where the Ford drivers were quicker than the rest. The #22 driver qualified on pole at Las Vegas but had a miserable race finishing last. While the Hendrick Motorsports drivers dominated the last two races, Logano spent his time in the midfield.
The two-time Cup Series champion spoke to the media after the session, where he stated:
"It’s nice, we’ll try to keep that (starting position) the whole time. Obviously, track position matters but handling is also going to matter,” said Logano, who also won the pole last weekend at Las Vegas but wrecked out of the race and finished last."
He added:
"Nobody knows what they got for handling without any practice. We definitely got the speed in our race car, Hopefully, we can maintain this track position. Obviously, we’ll get a good pit stall. We’ll do all we can to keep it up front."
With the green flag set to drop at 14:00 CT, Joey Logano is eager to get a race win on the board.