Logano wins 1st-ever pole at Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Joey Logano will start at Kansas Speedway right where he left off.
The winner of last fall’s Chase race drove his No. 22 Ford to a fast lap of 192.397 mph in the final qualifying round Friday, easily topping Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski to earn the pole for the Sprint Cup race tonight.
“Last year it took us pretty much all year to win one pole,” said Logano, who has only finished outside of the top 10 twice this year. “It’s pretty special to be able to figure out these third sessions and still have a lot of speed in our cars.”
Logano was fast from the moment his team unloaded his car Friday, turning the second-quickest lap behind point leader Kevin Harvick during the early practice session. Logano was third on the speed chart during the afternoon session behind Erik Jones and Jeff Gordon.
It was the fourth pole of the year for Logano, but his first at Kansas Speedway.
“The line I ran here in the fall may not work this time. Just trying to figure out what’s the fastest for your race car, and you never have two race cars the same,” Logano said. “You have to be able to adapt to what’s new and have an open mind.”
Kahne posted a lap of 191.911 mph. He was followed by Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and local boy Carl Edwards, who was posted the final lap of the last qualifying seg- ment.
“We’ve been really good, spent a lot of time in race trims, trying to get our car to turn at the corner, make that work,” Kahne said. “Our final run was the best run of the day, so I’m happy with the car, the speed of the car, the engine and the guys for making it better.”
Harvick qualified sixth, followed by Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson.
Jones also made the final round of qualifying in his first attempt in the No. 18, which he’s driving this week while Kyle Busch recovers from injuries sustained in a wreck at Daytona.
Trucks Series
Matt Crafton conserved just enough fuel while the leaders kept running out in the final laps to win the NASCAR Trucks Series race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
All the trucks were forced to pit with 55 laps remaining, just on the upper end of the fuel window, when Ray Black Jr. blew his engine after a long green-flag run.
Erik Jones, the 18-yearold who had dominated the race, was the first to run out with five laps left. Tyler Reddick took over the lead, only to run out moments later.
Finally, Crafton passed Daniel Suarez when he ran out of gas with two laps remaining, then had just enough in his own tank to cross the finish line.
Ryan Newman finished second. Johnny Sauter was third.
IndyCar
Team Penske is overpowering the competition in Indianapolis — again. Now it’s looking to make some more history. Defending series champ Will Power broke the Grand Prix of Indianapolis qualifying record twice Friday, completing the 2.439mile, 14-turn road course in 1 minute, 9.4886 seconds to earn his second pole of the season. He beat Scott Dixon by 0.227 seconds and led a pack of four Penske cars that qualified in the top five for today’s race in what could be the first step to pulling off the first May double.
“It’s a special track just because of where it is, right here,” Power said.
Roger Penske’s record at Indy is unrivaled. He has fielded cars that have won 15 Indianapolis 500s and 17 Indianapolis 500 poles, both records, now has his first road-course pole and is in prime position to start winning races on the newest course, too.