Joey Logano Wins Controversial Pole at Atlanta

HAMPTON, GA – RIS – Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano picked up where he left off last Sunday.  Backing up his big win in the Great American Race, Logano streaked to the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Fold of Honor Quik Trip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  With a lap at 194.683 mph in the final round of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series knockout qualifying at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Logano put his No. 22 Team Penske Ford in first place again on this day.

Logano toured the 1.54-mile intermediate speedway in 28.477 seconds, .131 seconds faster than the lap at 193.793 mph posted by reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.
 
Jamie McMurray was third fastest at 193.623 mph. Denny Hamlin (193.400 mph) qualified fourth for the second race of the season, followed by new Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards (193.137 mph).
 
Like Logano, Jeff Gordon was hot, but for a completely different reason. Gordon was one of 13 drivers whose car failed to clear inspection before time trials began, even though NASCAR delayed the start of qualifying for 15 minutes.
 
Accordingly, Gordon was not allowed to make a qualifying attempt in the first round. The list of those who failed to pass pre-qualifying inspection included three other past champions: Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart.
 
Logano and his team, on the other hand, did everything right. And he defied conventional wisdom on a track with old pavement that typically abrades tires. Logano posted his fastest lap of the session in the third and final round.
 
"Our first run today in practice, we were faster on our second run on scuffs, so I knew that the grip would stay in the tires for at least two runs," said Logano, who won his first Coors Light Pole Award at Atlanta and the ninth of his career. "I didn't know about the third run, but apparently the third run also…
 
"It was probably right at the limit, though. Probably the next run after that, it would have taken a pretty big jump down."
 
Though Harvick qualified second, he believes he'll have a strong long-run car in Sunday’s race. Even so, Harvick felt he left some speed out on the race track.
 
"I just did a bad job," he said. "In Round 1 I missed Turn 1, and in the last round, I missed Turn 1 again and just didn't get to the bottom like I needed to in order to get back in the throttle."
 

Those teams having inspection problems reportedly in the rear camber area, and had to go through inspection a second time.  "We were excited about qualifying today," said Gordon, who will start 35th. "I felt like we had a shot at being up front. This is just absolutely ridiculous."

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director Richard Buck said the laser inspection bay was open during the test Thursday and many teams were pushing the tolerances looking for mechanical group as part of the new aerodynamic rules.

He said every team had gone through tech at least once 17 minutes before qualifying started, and with a television window, there was no consideration of an additional delay beyond 15 minutes. He said 20 teams had to go through at least two times -- about twice the average on a normal race weekend last year.

"Their job is to push it to that very limit," Buck said. "Our job is to treat everybody fairly and give everybody an opportunity to come through that inspection room. But their responsibility is to come through there right but to the limit. I think that's what you saw today, was everybody pushing the limits."

For the second race in a row, at least part of the story on qualifying day wasn't about who won the pole but instead the controversy surrounding the session. Drivers like the group qualifying format except for at superspeedways Daytona and Talladega, and they were looking forward to competing this week much more than two weeks ago.

Stewart tweeted he was "pissed off" having to start 39th, and felt the entire day was a waste of working on qualifying.

Starting Line Up by Row

Atlanta Motor Speedway

56th Annual Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500

Driver  Date    Time    Speed

Pos     Car     Driver  Team    Time    Speed

Row 1:  1       22      Joey Logano    Shell Pennzoil Ford    28.477        194.683

2       4       Kevin Harvick  Jimmy John's Budweiser Chevrolet      28.608        193.792

Row 2:  3       1       Jamie McMurray McDonald's Chevrolet   28.633        193.623

4       11      Denny Hamlin   FedEx Ground Toyota    28.666  193.400

Row 3:  5       19      Carl Edwards   ARRIS Toyota   28.705  193.137

6       42      Kyle Larson    Energizer Chevrolet    28.733  192.949

Row 4:  7       31      Ryan Newman    Caterpillar Chevrolet  28.734        192.942

8       9       Sam Hornish Jr. Medallion Bank Ford    28.828  192.313

Row 5:  9       88      Dale Earnhardt Jr.     Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet        28.844  192.206

10      5       Kasey Kahne    Farmers Insurance Chevrolet    28.854        192.140

Row 6:  11      47      AJ Allmendinger Better Than Bouillon Chevrolet 28.953        191.483

12      2       Brad Keselowski Detroit Genuine Parts Ford     28.965        191.403

Row 7:  13      27      Paul Menard    Duracell/Menards Chevrolet     28.826        192.326

14      78      Martin Truex Jr.       Furniture Row Chevrolet        28.828        192.313

Row 8:  15      3       Austin Dillon  DOW Chevrolet  28.853  192.146

16      51      Justin Allgaier Brandt Chevrolet       28.870  192.033

Row 9:  17      18      David Ragan    M&M's Crispy Toyota    28.951        191.496

18      10      Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet      28.982  191.291

Row 10: 19      16      Greg Biffle    Ortho Ford     29.036  190.935

20      17      Ricky Stenhouse Jr.    Fifth Third Bank Ford  29.073        190.692

Row 11: 21      13      Casey Mears    GEICO Chevrolet 29.079  190.653

22      55      Brett Moffitt  Aaron's60thAnniversaryDreamMachine Toyota        29.080  190.646

Row 12: 23      43      Aric Almirola  Fresh from Florida Ford        29.114        190.424

24      95      Michael McDowell       Thrivent Financial Ford        29.247        189.558

Row 13: 25      15      Clint Bowyer   5-Hour Energy Toyota   29.254        189.513

26      38      David Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford       29.257        189.493

Row 14: 27      32      Mike Bliss(i)  Rimrock Design Ford    29.279        189.351

28      34      Joe Nemechek(i) CSX Play It Safe Ford  29.305  189.183

Row 15: 29      6       Trevor Bayne   AdvoCare Ford  29.348  188.906

30      23      JJ Yeley(i)    Dr. Pepper Toyota      29.460  188.187

Row 16: 31      62      Brendan Gaughan(i)     A-S Medication Solutions Chevrolet      29.471  188.117

32      33      Brian Scott(i) Little Joe's Autos Chevrolet   29.515        187.837

Row 17: 33      98      Josh Wise      Phil Parsons Racing Ford       30.150        183.881

34      30      Ron Hornaday Jr.       Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet  30.605        181.147

Row 18: 35      24      Jeff Gordon    3M Chevrolet   0.000   0.000

36      20      Matt Kenseth   Dollar General Toyota  0.000   0.000

Row 19: 37      48      Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet       Owner Points

38      41      Regan Smith(i) Haas Automation Chevrolet      Owner Points

Row 20: 39      14      Tony Stewart   Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet        Owner Points

40      26      Jeb Burton #   Maxim Fantasy Sports App Toyota       Owner Points

Row 21: 41      35      Cole Whitt     Rinnai Tankless Water Heaters Ford        Owner Points

42      7       Alex Bowman    Nikko/Toy State Chevrolet      Owner Points

Row 22: 43      40      Landon Cassill(i)      Snap Fitness Chevrolet Owner Points

Did Not Qualify:       # 66 Mike Wallace; # 83 Matt DiBenedetto; # 46 Michael Annett; # 29 Reed Sorenson.

Manufacturer   Starting Lineup DNQs    Manufacturer   Starting Lineup DNQs

Chevrolet      22      2       Toyota  8       2

Ford    13      0

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series