It was easy to hear the relief and elation in Joey Logano’s voice after the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford put his car on the pole for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.
“Oh, it was so much needed for all of us here,” said Logano, who struggled to a 29th-place finish last Monday at Dover. “The last couple of weeks were pretty rough, getting in a couple of crashes and not being strong at Dover.”
On Throwback Weekend at the Track Too Tough to Tame, Logano is sporting a paint scheme reminiscent of the quarter midget racer he drove as a child.
“This is full circle for me,” said Logano, who covered the 1.366-mile distance in 28.805 seconds (170.720 mph) in the money round of qualifying on Saturday. “This is my first quarter-midget paint scheme — it’s got all the same stuff on it since I was a kid.”
In winning his first pole of the season, his first at Darlington and the 23rd of his career, Logano edged Kyle Larson (170.236 mph) by .082 seconds. Christopher Bell qualified third at 169.818 mph, followed by Martin Truex, Jr., Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch, as Toyota drivers claimed starting positions three through six.
Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, William Byron and Tyler Reddick will start from positions seven through 10 on Sunday after advancing to the final round of time trials.
Neither Chase Elliott nor Kevin Harvick made qualifying runs after suffering flat tires during Saturday’s practice. Elliott was forced to a backup car after hard contact with the wall, and Harvick’s team spent the qualifying session replacing the damaged rear diffuser on the No. 4 Ford.
Both drivers will start from rear the rear of the field on Sunday.
WDUN will carry live MRN Radio coverage of the NASCAR Throwback Weekend from Darlington Raceway with Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 beginning at 2:30 PM on 102.9 FM, AM 550 and streaming live on AccessWDUN.
NASCAR Cup Series
Darlington Raceway – Darlington, SC
Goodyear 400 – May 7, 2022
Saturday’s Qualifying Results
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1. 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 28.805 170.720
2. 5 Kyle Larson Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet 28.887 170.236
3. 20 Christopher Bell SiriusXM Toyota 28.958 169.818
4. 19 Martin Truex, Jr. Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota 29.048 169.292
5. 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota 29.061 169.216
6. 45 Kurt Busch McDonald’s Throwback Toyota 29.077 169.123
7. 12 Ryan Blaney Advance Auto Parts Ford 29.106 168.955
8. 1 Ross Chastain Coca-Cola Chevrolet 29.126 168.839
9. 24 William Byron Axalta Chevrolet 29.161 168.636
10. 8 Tyler Reddick 3CHI Chevrolet 29.193 168.451
11. 43 Erik Jones FOCUSfactor Chevrolet 29.125 168.845
12. 10 Aric Almirola Haas Automation/Smithfield Ford 29.146 168.723
13. 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 29.153 168.682
14. 3 Austin Dillon Huk Performance Fishing Chevrolet 29.198 168.422
15. 48 Alex Bowman Ally Throwback Chevrolet 29.221 168.290
16. 34 Michael McDowell Navage Nasal Care Ford 29.343 167.590
17. 23 Bubba Wallace MoneyLion Toyota 29.349 167.556
18. 17 Chris Buescher Socios.com Ford 29.359 167.499
19. 2 Austin Cindric # Menards/Libman Ford 29.381 167.373
20. 99 Daniel Suarez Coca-Cola Chevrolet 29.384 167.356
21. 42 Ty Dillon Petty GMS Chevrolet 29.411 167.203
22. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 29.431 167.089
23. 6 Brad Keselowski Socios.com Ford 29.437 167.055
24. 16 Daniel Hemric(i) AGI by Athletic Greens Chevrolet 29.475 166.840
25. 21 Harrison Burton # DEX Imaging Ford 29.481 166.806
26. 47 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Kroger/Nature Valley Chevrolet 29.555 166.388
27. 38 Todd Gilliland # Black’s Tire Ford 29.599 166.141
28. 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 29.661 165.793
29. 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 29.662 165.788
30. 7 Corey LaJoie Stacking Pennies Chevrolet 29.838 164.810
31. 51 Cody Ware Nurtec ODT Ford 30.054 163.625
32. 15 J.J. Yeley(i) Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Ford 30.191 162.883
33. 77 Landon Cassill(i) Voyager: Crypto for All Chevrolet 30.367 161.939
34. 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
35. 4 Kevin Harvick Rheem Chasing a Cure Ford 0.000 0.000
36. 78 B.J. McLeod Ford 0.000 0.000
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
http://accesswdun.com/article/2022/5/1100429/logano-steams-to-nascar-cup-series-pole-at-darlington