LOUDON, N.H. — Team Penske‘s Joey Logano thrilled his enthusiastic local fanbase, turning a pole-winning lap at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday afternoon, 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 Team Penske teammate, 2023 series champ Ryan Blaney on the front row.
RELATED: Starting lineup | At-track photos
Fords swept the top three starting positions on the grid for Sunday‘s Mobil 1 301 (2 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) with Wood Brothers Racing’s 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” trophy 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 Round of 12 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, have had a fast start to the 10-race postseason run, sweeping the Round of 16 — JGR‘s Briscoe, Hamlin and Bell — taking the opening three victories.
The last time a Ford won at New Hampshire was in 2021 (Aric Almirola). The last time a Chevrolet won was 2016 (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. It‘s just a good starting spot, there‘s no points for it. It‘s really about the points or getting a win and moving on to the next round.”
Byron fastest in practice
Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet topped the leaderboard in Saturday afternoon’s practice session, with a speed of 127.834 mph.
AJ Allmendinger (127.645 mph), Ryan Preece (127.483 mph), Riley Herbst (127.402 mph) and Cole Custer (127.380 mph) rounded out the top five.
Ryan Blaney (127.274 mph), Bubba Wallace (127.210 mph), Ty Gibbs (127.206 mph), Michael McDowell (127.159 mph) and Daniel Suárez (127.138 mph) completed the top 10.
MORE: Practice results
While Blaney posted the sixth quickest lap time, the No. 12 Team Penske Ford driver had the best 10-, 15-, 20-, 25- and 30-lap averages.
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain was the slowest of the 12 playoff drivers, who posted the 30th quickest time at 126.245 mph.
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