Logano captures 3rd Michigan pole
Good omen for Penske driver
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Patrick Reed’s chances for the Ryder Cup are looking better with each round at The Barclays, and so are his prospects of winning.
Even with a careless finish Friday at Bethpage Black, Reed used a fast start to finish a 3-under-par 68 for a two-shot lead over Emiliano Grillo and Rickie Fowler going into the weekend of the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.
The Barclays is the final tournament for Americans to earn one of the eight automatic spots on the Ryder Cup team. Reed, who has gone 55 tournaments worldwide since his last victory, came in at No. 8.
At the moment, that’s no longer a concern.
“Really, I’m going into this week trying to win a golf tournament,” Reed said. “If I take care of me and do what I need to do this week, then Ryder Cup will take care of itself. So I’m not going into this week looking at it as, ‘Oh, I need to do this for the Ryder Cup.’ I’m going in this to think, ‘All right, I need to go win a golf tournament.’ ” Reed was at 8-under 134. Fowler likely needs third place alone to have any chance of qualifying for the Ryder Cup, and he has done his part. He played bogey-free, though he still missed plenty of birdie chances. Par is never bad on the Black Course, however, and Fowler shot a 69.
He has dropped only one shot all week, missing a 4-foot par putt Thursday that spun out of the back of the cup.
“Any time you can go bogey-free out here at this place, it’s good golf,” Fowler said. “Feel very good about my ball-striking and tee-to-green right now. See if we can get some more putts to go in.”
Grillo also had a 69, opening with a double bogey and closing with a bogey.
Ryan Moore (68) was three shots behind, and defending champion Jason Day (70) and Jordan Spieth (67) were four back.
Day tied for the lead early in the round when he ran off four straight birdies on the easier front nine. But his tee shots got wild, he finished some swings with only one hand on the club, and he dropped four shots around the turn.
“I’m really looking forward to the weekend,” Day said. “I feel like I’m really close.”
Spieth missed the cut at The Barclays a year ago, and he started off Friday in that direction when his approach to the tough 10th buried in the lip of a deep bunker. Spieth had to play away from the green and made double bogey.
Then he decided to start over. His caddie, Michael Greller, told him to forget the hole and try to get those two shots back before making the turn. He did, and then a lot more.
Spieth shot 31 on the front nine, including a 6-iron that hopped out of the rough to 3 feet on the par-5 fourth hole for an eagle, and his 67 got him back in the mix. He still has a lot of ground to make up on Reed. Still, this round could have gotten away from him early.
“Resetting a goal there is really key for me to get my mind away from what happened and look forward,” Spieth said. “I know it’s such a tough golf course. It’s rare when we play tournaments on courses this challenging. Normally they’re majors. But 4 under makes up a lot of ground.”
It moved Spieth up to a tie for fifth, which beats having the weekend off.
Spieth is among the few who only have to think about the end of the FedEx Cup. He is No. 5 in the standings and has clinched a spot on the Ryder Cup team.
The top 100 in the FedEx Cup advance to the next playoff event outside Boston next week, and 13 players were eliminated when they didn’t reach the weekend. As for the Ryder Cup, three players who missed the cut can no longer qualify: Bill Haas, Kevin Na and Daniel Summerhays.
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Joey Logano won the pole Friday at Michigan International Speedway — and lately at this track, that’s been a pretty good indicator of things to come.
The pole is Logano’s third in 16 Cup races at MIS, and the previous two times he won the pole, he also went on to win the race. That includes his victory at Michigan in June.
In fact, three of the last four race winners at Michigan took the pole — Logano this year, Matt Kenseth last August and Jeff Gordon in August 2014.
“Obviously starting up front here is an advantage for sure when you talk about track position and safety on restarts, being how crazy it is with the low-downforce package on restarts,” Logano said. “Having the first pit stall is probably the most important of all that.”
Logano won Friday with a lap of 201.698 mph in his No. 22 Penske Ford. Jimmie Johnson was second in qualifying for Sunday afternoon’s race, followed by Denny Hamlin.
Logano has won 17 poles in his Cup career and three in 2016. He is trying to become the third driver to win three or more races from the pole at Michigan. David Pearson did it four times and Bill Elliott three times.
Johnson won twice early this season but has only two top-10 finishes in his last 10 races, so his strong showing in qualifying was encouraging.
“All signs are pointing toward progress being made and I’m very excited about that,” Johnson said.
Among Johnson’s Hendrick teammates, Kasey Kahne qualified 11th, Chase Elliott was fifth and Alex Bowman was sixth.
Bowman is filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is recovering from a concussion.
DEVELOPMENTS
IndyCar race resumes tonight: While James Hinchcliffe has been leading the same IndyCar race for 11 weeks, Will Power has been piling up wins and runner-up finishes.
Five other races have been completed during the unprecedented 2-month rain delay of the Texas race that is set to resume tonight on lap 72. Power won three of those races and was the runner-up in the other two, moving the Team Penske driver from seventh to second in season points.
When the Texas race was red-flagged because of rain after 71 of 248 scheduled laps on June 12, Power was seventh in season points 117 behind Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud.
Now back at the highbanked, 1-mile Texas oval, Power is only 20 points behind his teammate and tied with a series-high four wins. After the final 177 laps of the Firestone 600 are completed, there will be only two races left.
Verstappen fastest: Max Verstappen posted the fastest time in the second practice for the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday, while another engine penalty ensured Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday’s race from the back row.
Hamilton took a 15-place grid penalty in the morning session for having changed too many engine parts, and took another 15-place hit following another component change for the afternoon.
Who starts last will be decided by qualifying today.