Joey Logano Tops Championship 4 Drivers in Cup Qualifying at Phoenix

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano is in take no prisoners mode as he gears up to battle for a third title on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford posted the best time of the Championship 4 drivers in qualifying, just missing out on the pole, but securing a front row start with a lap of 26.728 seconds, 134.690 mph.

“I feel like our car is strong. I think we did a good job in qualifying,” said Logano.

“We got them down now. We just have to put our foot on their throats. We feel pretty strong about our team, and these type of pressure situations we feel really solid about as far as our team in these moments.

“So, yeah, we’re just executing our plan. We’ve had two weeks to put the plan together. We’re executing it the best we can now.”

While Logano has the advantage of a front row start, he’ll have the disadvantage of an unfavorable pit box selection after his team failed pre-qualifying inspection twice before passing on the third go- around. As a result, Logano’s team will not have the chance to pick their own stall and will have to deal with whichever one is left.

There’s nothing I can do about it, right? I have to focus on my job. That’s out of my hands what goes on with that stuff,” Logano said.

“Obviously when it comes down to this, everyone is pushing and trying on get as much as they can. We thought we fixed it enough the first time, and we didn’t. Then you have to fix it even more so to really make sure you make it through.

“So just pushing the edge and just didn’t quite get by with what where he thought was okay, but obviously it was too far.”

William Byron will start eighth as the second-best Championship 4 driver with his lap of 26.822 seconds, 134.218 mph.

“It sucks just didn’t quite get the second lap I wanted to there in the second round, so bummed about that, but I feel really good about our race car. Get first pit pick, which is huge. So excited for all those things,” said Byron.

“Just, yeah, trying to put together a good start to the race, but really it’s such a long race. It’s just going to be about trying to get to the finish and have what you need there.”

Despite not quite having the run he would have liked in qualifying, Byron remains confident he will be able to go from the last driver to secure a spot in the Championship 4 to a title in Hendrick Motorsports’ 40^th anniversary season.

“I think we’re plenty capable. I feel like we had some things to improve after practice, and I feel like we did those things. So big credit to everyone not only on our team, but back at the shop and Hendrick as a whole.

“I feel good about it. I feel like we’re in a ball game. So just have to put together a good first couple of stages, try to get towards the front, and then go from there.”

First time Championship 4 driver Tyler Reddick will start at the tail of the top-10 in 10^th place in his 23XI Racing Toyota as he seeks to deliver the team its first Cup title in only its fourth season in existence.

Reddick also rebounded from a struggle in practice on Friday to show some speed in qualifying on Saturday.

“Qualifying is something we’ve been able to do a pretty good job of here. Round one obviously we barely got in. We did just enough there,” said Reddick.

“Yeah, that second round I wasn’t really expecting it to lose that much lap time from round one. When you’re the first car out there, you’re kind of going off of what you think you need to do. The last thing I would have thought is it would have slowed down that much across the board.

“Definitely wish I could have had that one back, but it was still really close between me and William. We’ll take it. We’ll have second best pit stall selection. So looking at how yesterday ended to at least get to that point coming into this was what we needed to do from that front.”

Last, but not least is defending series champion Ryan Blaney, who went from the fastest in practice on Friday to only being able to put up the 17^th fastest time in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford.

Blaney was able to win the championship from a 15^th place start a year ago and isn’t sweating the struggles in qualifying when it comes to his prospects on race day.

“The approach our lap didn’t go well. I got free into one and kind of ruined it all,” said Blaney. “Couldn’t really make it back up. I was surprised honestly it ran what it did for how loose I got.

“I think our car is pretty good. Still nice to have a decent pit stall and things like that. So, yeah, just kind of take it how we can get it tomorrow and kind of work through the first handful of laps and try to start marching forward.

“Yeah, it’s pretty similar to last year. Hopefully it ends the same, and we can charge through the field. I think our race car was good enough to where hopefully we can make that happen.”