MADISON, Ill.–With a spectacular lap late in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session, Joey Logano won the pole for Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway by a wide margin.
The only competitor in the 36-driver field to crack the 33-second barrier, Logano covered the 1.25-mile distance in 32.817 seconds (137.124 mph) to claim the top starting spot for the second race in the Cup Series Chase.
It marked the second pole this season for Logano, who won the inaugural Cup Series race at WWTR in 2022. In winning his first pole at the track and the 35th of his career, Logano beat second-place qualifier Kyle Larson (135.980 mph) by 0.276 seconds.
“Honestly, I feel like I’ve had good cars here for qualifying — I just have always screwed up Turn 1,” said Logano, who is eighth in the Chase standings, 72 points out of the lead. “It’s nice to have a good, clean lap.
“It’s in your head, right? Before you go out because you’ve had four qualifying sessions before where you’ve always screwed up Turn 1. I’ve overdriven it. I’ve underdriven it because of that.
“I hit it right this time, so that part was good. I was able to get through it pretty well and have a pretty solid (Turns) 3 and 4, and the car did what it needed to do. The car has got some raw speed in it, which is very encouraging for (Sunday).”
Logano is the only driver in the field who has finished in the top five in each of the four previous races at Gateway.
Chase drivers claimed the top 10 positions during time trials, with Logano’s Team Penske teammate, Ryan Blaney, qualifying third at 135.898 mph and last Sunday’s Darlington winner, Christopher Bell, earning the fourth spot on the grid at 135.767 mph.
Chase Briscoe was fifth fastest, followed by Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs and series leader Denny Hamlin, who improved significantly from his 30th position on the speed chart during practice earlier in the day.
The remaining six Chase drivers qualified as follows: Austin Cindric 13th, Ryan Preece 14th, Daniel Suarez 15th, Tyler Reddick 18th, Chris Buescher 21st and William Byron 24th. For the second straight week, Buescher’s No. 17 Ford failed inspection twice, resulting in the ejection of crew chief Joshua Sisco and the loss of pit selection for Sunday’s race.
–Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media
