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Jim Utter

Logano wins pole as Fords dominate Atlanta Cup qualifying

Logano, the next-to-last car to go out in the final round of qualifying, won the pole for Sunday’s Cup race at Atlanta with an average lap speed of 177.374 mph edging his Penske teammate Austin Cindric (177.340 mph).

Fellow Penske driver Ryan Blaney ended up third-fastest (177.215 mph), giving Penske a 1-2-3 start for the second time in team history.

In all, Ford drivers claimed the top eight starting positions, the first time that’s happened since Fords swept the top 10 starting spots in the 1965 Cup race at Beltsville, Md.

“It’s nice, we’ll try to keep that (starting position) the whole time. Obviously, track position matters but handling is also going to matter,” said Logano, who also won the pole last weekend at Las Vegas but wrecked out of the race and finished last.

“Nobody knows what they got for handling without any practice. We definitely got the speed in our race car, Hopefully, we can maintain this track position. Obviously, we’ll get a good pit stall.

“We’ll do all we can to keep it up front.”

Brad Keselowski qualified fourth and Aric Almirola rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 starters were Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.

Bell spun out on his qualifying attempt but did not hit the wall. If the team has to make any significant adjustments to the car, Bell will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.

Round 1

Ford cars dominated the first round of qualifying with Blaney leading the way with an average lap speed of 177.261 mph.

Logano was second-fastest (176.853 mph) and Almirola was third (176.825 mph). Keselowski was fourth and Buescher fifth as Fords swept the top-five.

Also advancing to the final round were Briscoe, Bell, Larson, Cindric and Harvick.

Bell, in a Toyota, and Larson, in a Chevrolet, were the only non-Fords to move on to the final round of qualifying.

Among those who did not advance were William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez.

The first car out, B.J. McLeod, spun off Turn 4 to bring the first round briefly under caution.

NASCAR sent track workers out to evaluate the track but did not find any issues.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 22 United States Joey Logano Ford 1 31.256     177.374
2 2 United States Austin Cindric Ford 1 31.262 0.006 0.006 177.340
3 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 1 31.284 0.028 0.022 177.215
4 6 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 1 31.323 0.067 0.039 176.995
5 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 1 31.324 0.068 0.001 176.989
6 4 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 1 31.363 0.107 0.039 176.769
7 17 United States Chris Buescher Ford 1 31.367 0.111 0.004 176.746
8 14 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 1 31.396 0.140 0.029 176.583
9 5 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 1 31.462 0.206 0.066 176.213
10 20 United States Christopher Bell Toyota      
11 24 United States William Byron Chevrolet 1 31.544 0.268 0.016 175.755
12 34 United States Michael McDowell Ford 1 31.545 0.269 0.001 175.749
13 3 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 1 31.548 0.272 0.003 175.732
14 48 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 1 31.554 0.278 0.006 175.699
15 11 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 1 31.554 0.278 0.000 175.699
16 45 United States Tyler Reddick Toyota 1 31.574 0.298 0.020 175.588
17 8 United States Kyle Busch Chevrolet 1 31.583 0.307 0.009 175.537
18 1 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 1 31.597 0.321 0.014 175.460
19 23 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 1 31.636 0.360 0.039 175.243
20 31 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 1 31.642 0.366 0.006 175.210
21 9 Josh Berry Chevrolet 1 31.662 0.386 0.020 175.099
22 42 United States Noah Gragson Chevrolet 1 31.680 0.404 0.018 175.000
23 38 United States Todd Gilliland Ford 1 31.696 0.420 0.016 174.912
24 41 United States Ryan Preece Ford 1 31.801 0.525 0.105 174.334
25 77 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 1 31.835 0.559 0.034 174.148
26 99 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 1 31.835 0.559 0.000 174.148
27 47 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 1 31.837 0.561 0.002 174.137
28 43 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 1 31.853 0.577 0.016 174.050
29 19 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 1 31.859 0.583 0.006 174.017
30 16 United States A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 1 31.939 0.663 0.080 173.581
31 7 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 1 31.945 0.669 0.006 173.548
32 51 United States Cody Ware Ford 1 32.064 0.788 0.119 172.904
33 21 United States Harrison Burton Ford 1 32.340 1.064 0.276 171.429
34 15 United States J.J. Yeley Ford 1 32.559 1.283 0.219 170.275
35 54 Ty Gibbs Toyota 1 34.582 3.306 2.023 160.315
36 78 United States B.J. McLeod Chevrolet
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