Logano sitting pretty with spot in Championship 4
Joey Logano is in an enviable place.
As the only driver who has already secured a spot in the championship finale of NASCAR’s Cup Series next weekend, he’ll enter Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway with a head start on preparations for the finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Seven others, however, will duel for the last three spots on the oldest and shortest circuit in the premier series, a 0.526mile oval. Passing was difficult in the spring and contact is a given, and likely moreso with the highest of stakes on the line.
“It’s a super tight battle for everybody, so when it comes down to the end of the race we’ve seen it so many times, whether it’s for the win or it’s for that one point that they need coming off turn four, we’ve seen some big moments here where desperate people do desperate things and this is a track where the desperate people have an opportunity to do a desperate thing,” Logano, the 2018 champion, said. “I’m glad I’m not a part of that.”
Chase Elliott is the only other former champion still in the mix for this year’s title. He’s third in points, eight behind
Ross Chastain and six ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who won at Martinsville in the spring.
Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and Chase Brisco complete the field of contenders, with Hamlin possibly having an advantage.
He’s won five times at Martinsville, but not since 2015, while Logano, Elliott and Byron have all won more recently at the track. Byron will be trying to become the first driver to win both races in a season at Martinsville since Hamlin in 2010.
Kyle Larson will start on the pole at Martinsville Speedway. Larson turned a fast lap at 96.078 miles per hour, edging Elliott for the top spot. Elliott’s lap came at 96.019 mph, putting the last two NASCAR Cup Series champions on the front row for the last race before the four-driver field is set for the championship.
Larson, who won the championship last season after winning 10 races, posted his third victory of the season last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He was eliminated from the championship in the second round at the road course in Charlotte.
FORMULA ONE
Max Verstappen inched closer to a record 14th victory of the Formula One season by holding off a pair of Mercedes and Mexican favorite Sergio Perez to win the pole Saturday for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
It was the sixth pole of the season for Verstappen, who clinched his second consecutive F1 title earlier this month. Red Bull wrapped up the constructors title last week.
With three races left in the season, the last remaining drama involves Verstappen trying to snap a tie for the single-season wins record with Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton looking to avoid the first winless season of his career, and Perez trying to become the first Mexican to win an F1 race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
With a packed crowd chanting “Ole! Ole! Ole! Che-co! Che-co!” every time Perez passed on the track, the roar was deafening as he shot into the top three. But Hamilton, who had his first lap wiped away, still had to complete a qualifying run.
Hamilton qualified third, behind teammate George Russell, as the Mercedes drivers seek their first win of the season. Hamilton, a seventime champion, has never gone winless since his 2007 F1 debut.
He was second to Verstappen a week ago at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, where Verstappen raced to his record-tying 13th win of the season. Verstappen has not promised to give Perez any favors to help Perez win in front of his adoring fans, but Perez did himself no favors in qualifying fourth.