Logano earns pole for NASCAR playoff
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Joey Logano hopped out of his car and jokingly thanked his Penske Racing team for all the wise adjustments that they made before he qualified Friday for the pole in Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway. The truth was they changed absolutely nothing.
“We made zero changes from the time we unloaded to qualifying,” Logano said after his lap of 191.646 mph landed him on the pole. “They did a great job of preparing the car.”
Logano heads into the final race before the playoff field is cut from 12 to eight with a 39-point buffer, so it wasn't as if he were in trouble. But starting up front allows him to chase stage points early and that could eliminate some of the pressure later in the race.
“It helps a little bit. We want to be able to score some stage points to start,” he said, “but hopefully we don't have to worry about points and we can just go win the race.”
Kevin Harvick is in similar shape after qualifying second Friday while fellow playoff drivers Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski rounded out qualifying's top five. Keselowski is the first driver outside the playoff cutoff.
Kyle Busch, who sits between Harvick and Logano in the playoffs, will start sixth after a solid effort at a track he's slowly grown to love. Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. are on the bubble, and the Kansas native will start 14th while the reigning series champion will start 12th.
Alex Bowman and Kurt Busch rounded out the top 10 while Kyle Larson crashed his primary car in practice and officially qualified 27th, though he'll be sent to the back on Sunday.
“I think we'll be fine. Our cars are always good here when we come to Kansas,” Larson said. “I wish we didn't wreck our primary car. Our primary car is usually better. But we'll be fine.”
Earlier Friday, 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 the playoffs.
Larson was docked 10 points, crew chief Chad Johnston was 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, meaning the elimination race at Kansas to trim the field to eight is practically a must-win.
“I don't know much about the appeals stuff. I kind of just drive,” Larson said. “Obviously, a 10-point penalty doesn't help, but I felt like with even being 26 points back we were going to have to go into this week and get a win to make the next round. So it doesn't mean much to me.”
Larson was already having a tough day at Talladega when a blown tire led to a spin on Lap 104, which caused damage to his car. The team used metal tabs to make the repairs, but the damaged vehicle policy states only fasteners or tape can reattach parts.