LOUDON, N.H. — Team Penske’s Joey Logano thrilled his enthusiastic local fan base by turning a pole-winning lap at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon, with the Connecticut native claiming the first NASCAR Cup Series pole position of his career at his “hometown” New England track.
The three-time and reigning series champ posted a lap of 130.622 mph around the one-mile track — the second Busch Light pole position of the season for the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford Mustang. He’ll start alongside his Penske teammate, 2023 series champ Ryan Blaney, on the front row.
Fords swept the top three starting positions on the grid for Sunday’s Mobil 1 301, with the Wood Brothers team driver Josh Berry rolling off third after holding the top speed for much of the qualifying session. He’ll line up next to 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota on the second row.
“The expectation is to win all the time; that’s why I’m here, that’s why (crew chief) Paul (Wolfe) is here, that’s why (team owner) Roger (Penske) is here, and they expect us to win,” Logano said. “The expectation is always to be first, but it’s a hard sport and there’s one in 40 chances to make it happen.
“At Loudon, we expect to be fast,” he continued. “Paul has always had fast cars here. Compared to the last few years, our cars have been really fast. We haven’t capitalized on it, but we’ve had speed good enough to win the last few races here. Hoping to have just a nice smooth race tomorrow and maintain track position.”
Logano is a two-time Loudon winner, claiming the famed “lobster” trophies in 2009 and 2014.
Six of the 12 playoff drivers qualified among the top 10, including Logano, Blaney, Reddick, regular-season champion William Byron (fifth), Ross Chastain (eighth) and Denny Hamlin (ninth), who leads the championship standings coming into New Hampshire — the first of the three second-round playoff races.
Bubba Wallace, who will start 14th, Kyle Larson (16th), Chase Briscoe (18th), defending New Hampshire race winner Christopher Bell (19th), Austin Cindric (22nd) and Chase Elliott (27th) round out the other playoff contenders on the grid.
Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing, in particular, has had a fast start to the 10-race playoff run, sweeping the first round — JGR’s Briscoe, Hamlin and Bell — taking the opening three trophies.
The last time a Ford won at New Hampshire was in 2021 (Aric Almirola). The last time a Chevrolet won was 2014 (Kevin Harvick).
“I think we’ve got a good shot,” Logano said. “I feel like Loudon is one of those race tracks that’s in our wheelhouse; a flat one-mile type track seems like it is a Team Penske kind of thing. Hopefully, we’re able to translate this pole into a win, because that’s what really matters.”
NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying
New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, N.H.
1. (22) Joey Logano (P) @, Ford, 130.622 mph.
2. (12) Ryan Blaney (P) @, Ford, 129.865 mph.
3. (21) Josh Berry, Ford, 129.754 mph.
4. (45) Tyler Reddick (P) @, Toyota, 129.745 mph.
5. (24) William Byron (P) @, Chevrolet, 129.670 mph.
6. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 129.560 mph.
7. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 129.542 mph.
8. (1) Ross Chastain (P) @, Chevrolet, 129.529 mph.
9. (11) Denny Hamlin (P) @, Toyota, 129.511 mph.
10. (88) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 129.511 mph.
11. (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 129.445 mph.
12. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 129.256 mph.
13. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 129.213 mph.
14. (23) Bubba Wallace (P) @, Toyota, 129.178 mph.
15. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 129.164 mph.
16. (5) Kyle Larson (P) @, Chevrolet, 129.129 mph.
17. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 129.112 mph.
18. (19) Chase Briscoe (P) @, Toyota, 129.064 mph.
19. (20) Christopher Bell (P) @, Toyota, 128.994 mph.
20. (38) Zane Smith, Ford, 128.906 mph.
21. (7) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 128.854 mph.
22. (2) Austin Cindric (P) @, Ford, 128.710 mph.
23. (60) Ryan Preece, Ford, 128.671 mph.
24. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 128.615 mph.
25. (35) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 128.589 mph.
26. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota, 128.537 mph.
27. (9) Chase Elliott (P) @, Chevrolet, 128.420 mph.
28. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 128.325 mph.
29. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 128.001 mph.
30. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 127.984 mph.
31. (41) Cole Custer, Ford, 127.928 mph.
32. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 127.864 mph.
33. (4) Noah Gragson, Ford, 127.214 mph.
34. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 126.981 mph.
35. (51) Cody Ware, Ford, 126.442 mph.
— By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
36. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 125.894 mph.
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