One week after teammate Austin Cindric took a surprise win at Gateway, Logano held on to the top starting position after all 10 cars hit the track in the final minute of Saturday’s final round of qualifying.
Logano’s lap at 97.771 mph was enough to claim his third pole of the 2024 season and 31st of his career. It’s the second time he’s led the field to green at the 1.99-mile road course, that underwent a complete repaving earlier this year.
It’s been a difficult season for Logano, who is still looking for his first win of the year. He did win the non-points All-Star Race last month.
“It’s nice to see the Penske cars running good again and the Fords as well,” Logano said. “I’m proud of my team. We made a lot of changes overnight. It’s nice to have had practice (on Friday) and you can go back and think about it overnight.
“We got ourselves a pole on a road course. It was an intense lap out there. You’re just on a ragged edge the whole time.”
Tyler Reddick ended up second fastest (97.771 mph) and Logano’s teammate Ryan Blaney was third (97.566 mph).
Chase Elliott and fellow Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
Completing the top-10 starting lineup are William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and Ty Gibbs.
On his first lap in the final round, Larson went off course in Turn 4 and caught part of the tire barrier and did some damage to the left-rear of his No. 5 Chevrolet.
Round 1 / Group B
After running off course in two previous attempts, Elliott bolted to the top of the session in the final minute with an average lap speed at 97.675 mph.
Elliott’s teammate, Bowman, ended up second fastest (97.589 mph) while Chastain ended up third (97.574 mph).
Also advancing to the final round of qualifying were Larson and Chastain’s Trackhouse teammate Suarez.
Among those who failed to move on were A.J. Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, last year’s race winner Martin Truex Jr. and Supercars standout Cam Waters, who is making his Cup debut this weekend.
Round 1 / Group A
A flurry of drivers went out in the final minute and Reddick improved his speed to take the top spot at 97.450 mph.
“The car’s really good,” Reddick said. “This is a track we’ve had speed but have to put the whole day together. I’d like to get the pole this year.”
Logano ended up second quick (97.430 mph) and Byron was third (97.402 mph). Also advancing to the final round…
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