Joey Logano wins NASCAR Cup Series pole at Phoenix
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Joey Logano capped a day in the spotlight with a fast late lap Friday to claim the pole for the NASCAR Camping World 500.
With the temperature in the low 90s and the sun beginning to set, Ryan Blaney qualified second to give Ford the top two spots to start Sunday's race.
Logano and Blaney bumped Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Chevrolet out of the top spot he had held through most of the final five-minute qualifying round on Friday.
The day began for Logano with a meeting with Kyle Busch and NASCAR officials about the crash and subsequent scuffle late in last Sunday's race in Las Vegas.
Logano had the fastest lap through two rounds but the top 12 have to start from scratch and qualify in the third round. He won with a top speed of 137.321 mph on the Phoenix International Raceway track made slick by the heat.
Busch qualified ninth.
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"There's I guess a lot of distractions that we don't typically have," Logano said. "It's just a matter of managing those distractions and keeping your head back in the right spot for when it's game time."
Drivers waited as late as possible in all three rounds to hope for slightly cooler weather to boost their speed.
But all were prepared for a long, hot day on Sunday, when the high is predicted to hit 96 degrees.
Bring it on, Logano said.
"I think racing in the heat of the day, when it's hot out, is the best racing, and I think maybe the whole garage may agree," he said. "When it's hot, the track gets wide, it's greasy, there's a lot more passing, tires become more important because there's more fall-off."
Logano won his 18th career pole but first in 17 races in Phoenix. He won the Sprint Cup Series race on the same track last Nov. 13, the next-to-last race of the season.
"I'm just glad we finally got a pole here," Logano said. "I don't know what our average starting position is, but I feel like it's really good, but we've never really put the whole deal together in the last run."
Blaney, 23, qualified in the No. 2 spot for the second week in a row.
Blaney's Wood Brothers racing team works closely with the sophisticated operation of the Penske group, where Logano is a driver.
"That's been a huge help and the Penske group has been very open to what we need," Blaney said, "not only on the driver side with Brad (Keselowski) and Joey, but on the team side as well."
Defending champion Kevin Harvick, an eight-time winner in Phoenix, had trouble and qualified 23rd. He is in the first season in a Ford after driving Chevrolets his entire career.
PHOTOS: 2017 MONSTER ENERGY CUP SERIES SCHEDULE
CAMPING WORLD 500 LINEUP
Friday's qualifying results (Car number in parentheses):
1. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 137.321 mph.
2. (21) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 136.877 mph.
3. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 136.783 mph.
4. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 136.654 mph.
5. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 136.302 mph.
6. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 136.193 mph.
7. (24) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 136.152 mph.
8. (77) Erik Jones, Toyota, 136.137 mph.
9. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 135.926 mph.
10. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 135.859 mph.
11. (41) Kurt Busch, Ford, 135.839 mph.
12. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 135.695 mph.
13. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 135.731 mph.
14. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 135.624 mph.
15. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 135.603 mph.
16. (78) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 135.532 mph.
17. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 135.405 mph.
18. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 135.349 mph.
19. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 135.166 mph.
20. (47) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 135.019 mph.
21. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 134.973 mph.
22. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 134.821 mph.
23. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 134.469 mph.
24. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 134.394 mph.
25. (95) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 133.889 mph.
26. (10) Danica Patrick, Ford, 133.789 mph.
27. (19) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 133.764 mph.
28. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 133.467 mph.
29. (34) Landon Cassill, Ford, 133.309 mph.
30. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 133.195 mph.
31. (83) Corey LaJoie, Toyota, 133.062 mph.
32. (72) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 133.033 mph.
33. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 133.013 mph.
34. (38) David Ragan, Ford, 132.935 mph.
35. (15) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 132.052 mph.
36. (23) Gray Gaulding, Toyota, 131.488 mph.
37. (55) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 129.218 mph.
38. (33) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 128.032 mph.
39. (51) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 126.596 mph.