{"id":24481,"date":"2019-03-23T23:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-03-24T04:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=24481"},"modified":"2019-03-24T14:54:07","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T19:54:07","slug":"efficient-joey-logano-continues-mastery-of-martinsville-qualifying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/23\/efficient-joey-logano-continues-mastery-of-martinsville-qualifying\/","title":{"rendered":"Efficient Joey Logano continues mastery of Martinsville qualifying"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

MARTINSVILLE, Va. \u2013 With surgical efficiency, Joey Logano<\/strong> continued his domination of knockout qualifying at Martinsville Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, reacts after winning the pole position following qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 23, 2019 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Saving his car and his tires for the final round of Saturday\u2019s time trials at the .526-mile short track, Logano won the pole for Sunday\u2019s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a lap at 97.830 mph (19.356 seconds).<\/p>\n

Driving the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, Logano edged Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driver Aric Almirola (97.643 mph) for the top starting spot by .037 seconds. Brad Keselowski (97.458 mph) qualified third, followed by Kevin Harvick (97.382 mph), as Ford drivers captured the top four positions on the grid.<\/p>\n

The Busch Pole Award was Logano\u2019s first of the season, his fifth at Martinsville and the 21st of his career. Logano ran only three laps total in the first two rounds, allowing him to save his tires for a four-lap run in the final round. His last lap was his fastest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to get another pole and hopefully we can top it off with another win,\u201d said Logano, who used a victory in last year\u2019s Playoff race at Martinsville as a springboard to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. \u201cThis is a fun race. I always look forward to coming up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Logano has earned his five of the last seven contested poles at Martinsville over a nine-race span, with two of the qualifying sessions canceled because of adverse weather.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Aric Almirola, driver of the #10 SHAZAMSmithfield Ford, practices for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 23, 2019 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

All told, Fords claimed six of the top 12 starting positions, including Team Penske drivers Logano and Keselowski and all four Stewart-Haas Racing drivers\u2014Almirola, Harvick, Daniel Suarez (10th) and Clint Bowyer (11th). In contrast to Logano\u2019s economical runs, Bowyer had 16 laps on his tires at the end of the final round.<\/p>\n

Five-time Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin paced the first two rounds but had to settle for fifth when the starting order for the top 12 drivers was decided. Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. (ninth) were the only Toyota drivers to make the final round.<\/p>\n

William Byron was sixth fastest in the money round to lead four Chevrolets in the final 12. He was joined by Chip Ganassi Racing\u2019s Kyle Larson (seventh) and fellow Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott (eighth) and Jimmie Johnson (12th), who leads active drivers with nine victories at the paper-clip-shaped track.<\/p>\n

Trying for his third straight Cup win on Sunday\u2014not to mention a weekend sweep of the Martinsville races\u2014Saturday\u2019s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victor Kyle Busch will start 14th in the STP 500.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo loose\u2014just didn\u2019t have it with track conditions today,\u201d said Busch, who opted not to make a mock qualifying run during practice.<\/p>\n

For Byron, the sixth-place run was a welcome end to a frustrating day. Early in Saturday\u2019s opening practice, his No. 24 Chevrolet bounced off the outside wall. Byron\u2019s crew spent the rest of the session\u2014and then some\u2014repairing the car.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m kind of optimistic, but we\u2019ve had a rough day,\u201d Byron said after qualifying. \u201cThese two-day shows are tough, and we started out with a flat right front (tire) and hit the wall. Then in second practice, we were way behind because we didn\u2019t have enough practice time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys made a lot of great changes to get it right going into qualifying. We were really struggling over the bumps over both ends, really, and getting on the concrete (in the corners). We\u2019ll see what happens\u2014should be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Media Center Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Joey Logano – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/MENCS_MVS1_LoganoPole_032319.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – 70th Annual STP 500 UNOFFICIAL<\/b><\/p>\n

Martinsville Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

Martinsville, Virginia<\/b><\/p>\n

Saturday, March 23, 2019<\/b><\/p>\n

               1. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 97.830 mph.<\/p>\n

               2. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 97.643 mph.<\/p>\n

               3. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 97.458 mph.<\/p>\n

               4. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 97.382 mph.<\/p>\n

               5. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 97.362 mph.<\/p>\n

               6. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 97.202 mph.<\/p>\n

               7. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 97.098 mph.<\/p>\n

               8. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 97.053 mph.<\/p>\n

               9. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 97.018 mph.<\/p>\n

               10. (41) Daniel Suarez, Ford, 96.830 mph.<\/p>\n

               11. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 96.706 mph.<\/p>\n

               12. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 96.573 mph.<\/p>\n

               13. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 96.755 mph.<\/p>\n

               14. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 96.716 mph.<\/p>\n

               15. (21) Paul Menard, Ford, 96.696 mph.<\/p>\n

               16. (47) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 96.671 mph.<\/p>\n

               17. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 96.647 mph.<\/p>\n

               18. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 96.602 mph.<\/p>\n

               19. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota, 96.602 mph.<\/p>\n

               20. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 96.499 mph.<\/p>\n

               21. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford, 96.484 mph.<\/p>\n

               22. (95) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 96.465 mph.<\/p>\n

               23. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 96.357 mph.<\/p>\n

               24. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 96.146 mph.<\/p>\n

               25. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 96.298 mph.<\/p>\n

               26. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 96.107 mph.<\/p>\n

               27. (43) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet, 95.917 mph.<\/p>\n

               28. (00) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 95.709 mph.<\/p>\n

               29. (8) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 95.603 mph.<\/p>\n

               30. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 95.569 mph.<\/p>\n

               31. (15) Ross Chastain(i), Chevrolet, 95.415 mph.<\/p>\n

               32. (36) Matt Tifft #, Ford, 95.415 mph.<\/p>\n

               33. (52) Jeb Burton(i), Chevrolet, 94.689 mph.<\/p>\n

               34. (77) DJ Kennington(i), Chevrolet, 94.618 mph.<\/p>\n

               35. (32) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

               36. (51) Cody Ware #, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. \u2013 With surgical efficiency, Joey Logano continued his domination of knockout qualifying at Martinsville Speedway. Saving his car and his tires for the final round of Saturday\u2019s time trials at the .526-mile short track, Logano won the pole for Sunday\u2019s STP 500 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":24483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[154,16,408],"class_list":["post-24481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-joey-logano","tag-nascar","tag-stp-500"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/MENCS_MVS_LoganoPole_032319.jpg?fit=4198%2C2799&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-6mR","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24481"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24488,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24481\/revisions\/24488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}