Starting lineup for Pure Michigan 400 with Joey Logano on pole
Joey Logano won the pole for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Raceway, the home track for boss Roger Penske, who owns Team Penske and once owned the facility as well.
Logano lapped the 2-mile track at 201.698 miles per hour, good enough for his third pole of the season and the 17th of his career.
“Track position is a big deal here,” said Logano. “Having pit stall No. 1 is a big advantage, too … Neat to start up front here at Michigan again.”
Qualifying second was six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who ran 201.523 mph. “Our past history shows good Fridays mean good Sundays,” said Johnson.
Third was Denny Hamlin in the first of the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas, followed by Kevin Harvick and Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman.
Four of the last six Michigan pole winners went on to win their respective races here, including the two most recent pole-sitters, Matt Kenseth in August 2015 and Logano this June.
In the second round, three of the five affiliated top Toyotas failed to advance, with Matt Kenseth 13th, Martin Truex Jr. 14th ad Kyle Busch 16th. Danica Patrick, meanwhile, wound up 23rd.
“We just kind of missed it in (Turns) 1 and 2,” said Kenseth.
The biggest names who failed to get out of the first of three rounds of qualifying were AJ Allmendinger, who qualified 25th, two positions ahead of Clint Bowyer, and last weekend’s Bristol runner-up Ricky Stenhouse Jr., way back in 29th.
“That’s better than we’ve been doing,” said Bowyer, who has endured a frustrating season at HScott Motorsports.
“For us, it was a lot different than in practice,” said Stenhouse. “… We’ll get it dialed in tomorrow and pass a lot of cars on Sunday.”
On Saturday, there will be two rounds of practice, the first at 8:30 a.m. ET, with the final Happy Hour session scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
