NSCS: Joey Logano Scores STP 500 Pole at Martinsville Speedway

Joey Logano has done it again. For the second straight race at Martinsville Speedway, Joey Logano will lead the field to the green as he topped the tops in each of the three rounds of qualifying. Logano’s final time of 19.513 seconds was enough to score the pole just thousandths ahead of Kasey Kahne.

“(Crew chief) Todd (Gordon) does a great job with this Shell Pennzoil Ford. I just get to drive this thing,” Logano commented. “I always like coming to Martinsville. We haven’t gotten a Grandfather Clock yet, but we’ve got qualifying figured out. These Penske Racing guys did a great job. I say it all the time – Martinsville is the most important race to start up front, and everybody did a good job. I’m excited for what this does for us, as we’ve started off strong, but obviously you want to break through and start clicking off wins.”

Logano was fast last fall at Martinsville in the race, but was  taken out by Matt Kenseth while leading. Kenseth was multiple laps down when he turned and wrecked the No. 22.

Kasey Kahne will start second as he looks to put a dismal start to his 2016 season in the rearview with a solid performance this weekend.

“It feels good,” he said. “The car was really fast. The guys did a nice job in qualifying. I just kept getting better with my laps. We didn’t make any adjustments as the car was fine, I just got better with my laps. It was close. Defiantly a good starting spot. that was one of y goals today to help on pit road, and we were able to do that with a good effort. I feel we have a really good team on pit crew that can get as good pit stops as anybody, so looking forward to it.”

Brian Vickers, who led the opening practice, was third quickest as he subs for Tony Stewart once again this week. Vickers said earlier this week that Martinsville is one of his favorite tracks. Vickers grew up in Thomasville, North Carolina, just over an hour away from Martinsville.

Richard Childress Racing teammate Paul Menard and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-five, followed by A.J. Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Chase Elliott. Notably, eight-time Martinsville Speedway winner Jimmie Johnson will start 24th.

The Sprint Cup Series gets one final practice on Saturday, before Sunday’s race at 1pm EST.