Joey Logano Powers To Sprint Cup Pole At Atlanta

Joey Logano rolled to the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It marks Logano’s first pole at the Hampton, GA track. Photo by Sarah Glenn/NASCAR via Getty Images

Joey Logano’s week just keeps getting better.

Logano, the defending Daytona 500 winner, took the pole for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway after topping Friday night’s chaotic qualifying session that saw only 34 cars take to the track to post a qualifying time.

Logano’s lap of 22.447 seconds (194.683 mph) in the No. 22 Ford was enough to knock Kevin Harvick off the top spot for his ninth-career Coors Light Pole Award.

Harvick held on for second with a lap of 28.608 (193.792), followed by Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.

Logano’s pole is his career-best start ever at Atlanta, where he used to race Legends cars with David Ragan and Reed Sorenson.

“It’s been an amazing few weeks if you think about the Daytona 500 and everything that comes along with that, and then coming down here to Atlanta and starting first is special, especially for me here at this race track,” said Logano. “I remember sitting in the corner and watching drivers up here talking about their qualifying run and racing Legends cars out front here for years, so there are a lot of memories here.

“Hopefully, we’ll finish where we start. Everything is going well and we’re just trying to keep the old train rolling here. It’s going great and we’ll see what happens on Sunday.”

Friday’s opening round only saw 34 of the 47 entrants making onto the track before the 15-minute session ended after several teams failed to make to through pre-qualifying inspection – in some cases presenting their cars through inspection three times.

Among the drivers who weren’t able to make it through tech were Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart.

Gordon, returning to the track where he made his Sprint Cup debut in 1992, ended up with his worst Atlanta starting spot since 1997, rolling off 35th.

“This is absolutely embarrassing,” said Gordon. “I just feel so bad for my guys and for 3M. To not even get a chance to go out on the race track is ridiculous. I know the fans deserve an apology. I don’t know how many cars there must be back here (the garage) that never even got a chance to go on the track.

“There is something wrong. Or there is something wrong with the system. Or there is something wrong with the amount of time they allot to get through. There is no way this many good cars, talented people that they can’t figure out how to get these cars through inspection. These guys are too smart. Yes we are pushing limits, but there is something wrong here. I’m embarrassed. I’m embarrassed for our series right now that this just happened.”

Peachtree City, GA’s Reed Sorenson, Mike Wallace, Matt DiBenedetto and Michael Annett also weren’t able to clear inspection and failed to qualify for Sunday’s race, having never logged a lap in qualifying.

The heart of the issue that caused the chaos in the garage appeared to be the new rules package that makes its season debut this weekend at Atlanta. Among the changes this season were aero and weight changes that had teams scrambling throughout the afternoon to get their cars within NASCAR tolerances.

Prior to the start of the session, NASCAR pushed qualifying back by a half hour, but even that it wasn’t enough time for all the teams to clear inspection.

According to NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director Richard Buck, several of the teams were caught “pushing the limits” with issues like camber, toe and axle skew, trying to find as much grip as possible.

“We saw different areas where teams were pushing the limits,” said Buck. “We’ve got a new rules package and with grip being so important here, teams were trying to get every bit (of grip) that can.

“We saw areas where the teams were looking for every last little bit of mechanical grip. Obviously, (the teams) have given up downforce with the new (rules) package, and they’re pushing the limits. There’s a bunch of parameters mechanically that we measure that the teams can adjust and manipulate to get more grip, and that’s where they were really pushing the edges.”

Buck said the inspection process gave everyone a fair opportunity to get through, but ultimately it was teams responsibility to come through inspection “to the limit.”

“We’ll look at the (inspection) process and try to understand it,” said Buck. “We’ll look it with a fine microscope, we’ll get input from the teams and if down the road we see the need, we’ll make an adjustment.”

Also missing the field for Sunday’s race was Travis Kvapil, whose team was forced to withdraw after their hauler carrying their only racecar was stolen from the parking lot of an Atlanta-area hotel early Friday morning.

NASCAR-Sprint Cup Series
Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, GA
Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 – Feb. 27, 2015

Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series Race Starting Line Up

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2. Kevin Harvick – 193.792
3. Jamie McMurray – 193.623
4. Denny Hamlin – 193.4
5. Carl Edwards – 193.137
6. Kyle Larson – 192.949
7. Ryan Newman – 192.942
8. Sam Hornish, Jr.- 192.313
9. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 192.206
10. Kasey Kahne – 192.14
11. A.J. Allmendinger – 191.483
12. Brad Keselowski- 191.403
13. Paul Menard – 192.326
14. Martin Truex, Jr. – 192.313
15. Austin Dillon – 192.146
16. Justin Allgaier – 192.033
17. David Ragan – 191.496
18. Danica Patrick – 191.291
19. Greg Biffle- 190.935
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.- 190.692
21. Casey Mears – 190.653
22. Brett Moffitt – 190.646
23. Aric Almirola- 190.424
24. Michael McDowell- 189.558
25. Clint Bowyer – 189.513
26. David Gilliland- 189.493
27. Mike Bliss- 189.351
28. Joe Nemechek- 189.183
29. Trevor Bayne- 188.906
30. J.J. Yeley – 188.187
31. Brendan Gaughan – 188.117
32. Brian Scott – 187.837
33. Josh Wise- 183.881
34. Ron Hornaday, Jr. – 181.147
35. Jeff Gordon – No Time
36. Matt Kenseth – No Time
37. Jimmie Johnson – Owner Points
38. Regan Smith – Owner Points
39. Tony Stewart – Owner Points
40. Jeb Burton – Owner Points
41. Cole Whitt- Owner Points
42. Alex Bowman – Owner Points
43. Landon Cassill – Owner Points