MADISON, Ill. — Joey Logano secured the pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series postseason race at World Wide Technology Raceway, positioning himself for a needed boost in the championship Chase.
Logano posted a lap of 32.817 seconds on the 1 1/4-mile oval that features tight turns at the south end and flat, sweeping turns on the north side. He averaged 137.124 mph, and his Team Penske No. 22 Ford was 0.276 second faster than the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet of Kyle Larson, who won his second Cup Series title last season.
“We’ve got some good momentum on our side here recently,” said Logano, who has won twice in his past seven races to climb to eighth in the points standings. “We’ve had some good cars. We’ve done a good job. We’ve put ourselves back in the talks of racing for a championship.
“We may be the underdogs, but we’re very used to that. That’s where we live, and we feel we got a shot to do it.”
Logano, 36, is the only active three-time Cup Series champion, winning titles in 2018, ’22 and ’24.