Logan earns pole for NASCAR elimination race in Kansas City

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 on the pole for 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 was 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.

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 Larson’s appeal of a rules violation from last week’s race at Talladega was denied.

Larson was docked 10 points, crew chief Chad Johnston fined $25,000 and car chief David Bryant was suspended 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.