Joey Logano earns NASCAR Cup pole in a tie as Ford…

Ford drivers managed to qualify first through eighth as Team Penske's Joey Logano claimed pole position for the NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta, narrowly beating Josh Berry in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Along with the technically-aligned No. 21 machine, cars prepared by Penske ended up locking out the first two rows on the grid. Berry actually tied with Logano for pole, but Logano gets the position due to his position in owner's points.

"Well you know we all have the same thing and obviously, Team Penske does a great job at building the same cars it seems like -- all of us in the top four there," said Logano, who has two wins at the Georgia track. "Proud of everyone at the shop. Proud of Roush-Yates engines. This is always a test of how much speed you can put in them. They're fast for qualifying but let's see what we got in the race."

Logano and Berry will be followed by Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, and Ryan Preece in the top five. Brad Keselowski, Cole Custer, Zane Smith, Alex Bowman and Chase Briscoe filled out the remainder of the top ten. Showcasing just how dominant they were, Bowman in ninth was the top-qualifying non-Ford driver.

While it was blue skies at the track, lightning within eight miles of the 1.5-mile speedway forced NASCAR to put things on hold early in the qualifying. At the time, 14 cars had qualified, but in the name of safety, NASCAR waited 30 minutes before resuming the session.

At the time of the lightning hold, Custer had the fast time in the No. 41 Haas Factory Ford. It was a solid lap, but not good enough as his fellow Ford drivers began to knock him down the order.

There were no incidents, but Michael McDowell did touch the outside wall as he began his flying lap. Chase Elliott also had a sketchy moment in Turns 3/4, getting loose.

Several big names find themselves buried deep in the field as the entirety of Trackhouse Racing qualified outside the top 30. Denny Hamlin, who would have started on pole (per the metric) if the lightning had persisted, ended up 33rd in the final order. Christopher Bell and Carson Hocevar, who finished 1-2 in the last Cup race at Atlanta, qualified 28th and 30th, respectively.

Photos from Atlanta II - Qualifying

Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet


Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	J. Logano Team Penske	22	Ford	1	30.979		178.960
2	J. Berry Wood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	1	+0.000 30.979	0.000	178.960
3	R. Blaney Team Penske	12	Ford	1	+0.004 30.983	0.004	178.937
4	A. Cindric Team Penske	2	Ford	1	+0.058 31.037	0.054	178.626
5	R. Preece RFK Racing	60	Ford	1	+0.151 31.130	0.093	178.092
6	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6	Ford	1	+0.174 31.153	0.023	177.960
7	C. Custer Haas Factory Team	41	Ford	1	+0.176 31.155	0.002	177.949
8	Z. Smith Front Row Motorsports	38	Ford	1	+0.181 31.160	0.005	177.920
9	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	1	+0.224 31.203	0.043	177.675
10	C. Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	1	+0.231 31.210	0.007	177.635
11	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	1	+0.258 31.237	0.027	177.482
12	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	1	+0.263 31.242	0.005	177.453
13	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17	Ford	1	+0.268 31.247	0.005	177.425
14	T. Dillon Kaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	1	+0.286 31.265	0.018	177.323
15	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	1	+0.305 31.284	0.019	177.215
16	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	1	+0.319 31.298	0.014	177.136
17	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	34	Ford	1	+0.323 31.302	0.004	177.113
18	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	1	+0.331 31.310	0.008	177.068
19	R. Herbst 23XI Racing	35	Toyota	1	+0.336 31.315	0.005	177.040
20	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	1	+0.336 31.315	0.000	177.040
21	J. Haley Spire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	1	+0.350 31.329	0.014	176.961
22	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	1	+0.350 31.329	0.000	176.961
23	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45	Toyota	1	+0.352 31.331	0.002	176.949
24	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23	Toyota	1	+0.374 31.353	0.022	176.825
25	C. Lajoie Rick Ware Racing	01	Ford	1	+0.377 31.356	0.003	176.808
26	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	1	+0.379 31.358	0.002	176.797
27	N. Gragson Front Row Motorsports	4	Ford	1	+0.397 31.376	0.018	176.696
28	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	1	+0.426 31.405	0.029	176.532
29	K. Busch Richard Childress Racing	8	Chevrolet	1	+0.428 31.407	0.002	176.521
30	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	1	+0.430 31.409	0.002	176.510
31	D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing	99	Chevrolet	1	+0.467 31.446	0.037	176.302
32	M. McDowell Spire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	1	+0.483 31.462	0.016	176.213
33	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	1	+0.484 31.463	0.001	176.207
34	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	1	+0.505 31.484	0.021	176.089
35	S. van Gisbergen TrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	1	+0.506 31.485	0.001	176.084
36	C. Zilisch TrackHouse Racing	87	Chevrolet	1	+0.521 31.500	0.015	176.000
37	R. Stenhouse Jr Hyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	1	+0.558 31.537	0.037	175.794
38	B. McLeod Live Fast Motorsports	78	Chevrolet	1	+0.571 31.550	0.013	175.721
39	C. Ware Rick Ware Racing	51	Ford	1	+0.585 31.564	0.014	175.643
40	D. Starr Garage 66	66	Ford	1	+3.134 34.113	2.549	162.519
View full results