Logano breezes to Cup pole spot
Joey Logano captured the pole for Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup playoff race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., with a lap of 191.646 mph.
Logano heads into the final race before the playoff field is cut from 12 to eight with a 39-point buffer.
Kevin Harvick qualifyied second, while fellow playoff drivers Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski rounded out qualifying’s top five. Kyle Larson’s appeal of a rules violation from last week’s race at Talladega was denied — a blow to the Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s chances of advancing in NASCAR’s playoffs.
Larson was docked 10 points, crew chief Chad Johnston fined $25,000 and car chief David Bryant was suspended for Sunday’s race after officials determined the team used unapproved metal tabs in violation of NASCAR’s policy on damaged vehicles.
The penalty dropped Larson from 26 points behind the playoff cutoff to 36 points, meaning the elimination race at Kansas to trim the field to eight is practically a must-win for him.
In other news:
• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap on a wet morning held up as the best of the day at the U.S. Grand Prix practice in Austin. The fading title hopes of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took a big hit when he was given a three-place starting grid penalty for driving too fast under a red flag in the morning. Vettel must win Sunday or finish within seven points of Hamilton to extend the championship to next week in Mexico City. Hamilton’s lap of 1 minute, 47.502 seconds at the Circuit of the Americas was 1.3 seconds clear of teammate Valtteri Bottas.