AVONDALE, Ariz. — Joey Logano will start from the pole in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series finale as he chases his second series championship.
The Team Penske driver ran a best lap of 26.788 seconds at 134.389 mph and will lead the field to the green flag at Phoenix Raceway.
Logano believes winning the pole gives his team an advantage.
“It keeps the pressure on them. That’s the goal. When you get here it’s keep the pressure on the competition. This team does amazing under the pressure and that’s why we thrive in playoffs and Championship Four type moments,” Logano said. “I love it. It makes me better and I think it makes my whole race team better as well. I’ve been saying and we’ve been preparing and had a lot of time to go over a lot of things here and went over a lot last night and this morning with Paul and the team and seems like we made some good adjustments, at least for qualifying it showed up, and hopefully that continues into the race.
“It’s a good place to start, better place to finish. The first pit stall will be helpful. We’ve got a good pit crew, but I think also when you can add that with the best pit stall – the camera line is right there in front of it and not too far ahead of it, so that’s a big advantage.”
Logano bumped his teammate, Ryan Blaney, from the pole, while Chase Briscoe qualified third for Stewart-Haas Racing, giving Ford a sweep of the top three qualifying positions.
Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver Kyle Larson qualified fourth, while his teammate, Chase Elliott, who is one of the four drivers competing in the Championship Four, rounded out the top five.
Harrison Burton (Ford), Kevin Harvick (Ford), William Byron (Chevrolet), Cole Custer (Ford) and Ty Gibbs (Toyota) completed the top five.
The remaining two championship contenders, Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain, qualified 17th and 25th, respectively.