NSCS: Joey Logano Scores Toyota Owners 400 Pole at Richmond

Joey Logano continued the trend of Team Penske being fast in qualifying as he topped the charts with a lap of 21.248 seconds.

“I thought we had a shot at the pole, but after our first run, it wasn’t very good,” he commented. “We made some adjustments and didn’t make much ground in the second round. We took a big swing at it and got it turn and got the pole. Normally, we’re fast throughout and can just get the pole – but this time, we had to swing at it.”

Hometown hero Denny Hamlin was second quickest as he looks to come back strong this week after giving up his seat 23 laps into the race last weekend due to neck pain.

“I thought in race trim our car was really good and we had a good car,” he said. “In qualifying, I thought we were sitting pretty well after the second round to go for the pole. We just fell off a little too much in the final round.”

Kurt Busch qualified third, followed by A.J. Allmendinger and Kevin Harvick. Martin Truex Jr. qualified sixth, followed by Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, David Ragan, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Larson.

Chase Elliott will make his second career Sprint Cup Series start this weekend, starting from the 16th spot.

“I’m just happy that we made the show at this point,” he commented. “You get into the top 24 and want to get into the top 12 – we made some adjustments on it and got quicker, but just not enough. Can’t say enough for these guys, Kenny Francis and everybody in the 24/5 shop, and for NAPA for coming on board. I feel it’s a good, strong qualifying effort for us in our second start. I felt our car was good during practice, so hopefully we can improve on it and make it good for the race.”

While he was happy, that wouldn’t be the case for all of Hendrick Motorsports. Elliott and Gordon were the only Hendrick drivers to qualify in the top 24, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start 26th, followed by Jimmie Johnson in 36th and Kasey Kahne in 40th. Johnson said he was really puzzled by their effort.

“We had such a great practice session – qualifying and race trim,” he added. “Just scratching my head big time there. Really had high hopes for a good starting spot – a little far from that.”

Kahne said it “felt really bad”, as the car wouldn’t turn and the splitter was up. He added that it had to be due to the tires as they didn’t change anything between practice and qualifying.

Jeb Burton & Brendan Gaughan would fail to qualify for the race.