Joey Logano wins career first pole at Martinsville

Joey Logano (left), driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, poses with Miss Coors Light Rachel Rupert after winning the Coors Light Pole Award for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 27, 2015 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)
Joey Logano (left), driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, poses with Miss Coors Light Rachel Rupert after winning the Coors Light Pole Award for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 27, 2015 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)
Joey Logano (left), driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, poses with Miss Coors Light Rachel Rupert after winning the Coors Light Pole Award for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on March 27, 2015 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)

Joey Logano wasn’t able to break his track record set last year but he was able to win the pole Friday at Martinsville Speedway and will lead the field to the green for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup STP 500. Logano put down a lap of 19.232 seconds, 98.461 miles per hour, at the start of the final five minutes of the third qualifying round to secure his 10th career pole at his first at Martinsville.

“It feels great to finally get the pole here,” Logano said. “We’ve been so close so many times and throughout my career I feel like we’ve always qualified well here, but was never able to get the pole.”

Ryan Newman who led the only practice earlier in the day, will start second, Martin Truex Jr. third, Jeff Gordon fourth and Jimmie Johnson fifth.  The qualifying session was pushed back for an hour and fifteen minutes after morning rain delayed activities at the track. The three round knockout qualifying session featured two red flag stoppages in each of the first two rounds.  MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.