Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford Fusion, claimed his third Coors Light Pole Award of the season and his 11th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career pole during Friday afternoon’s qualifying session at Richmond International Raceway. Logano and crew chief, Todd Gordon executed a brilliant strategy of saving the best for last as they were 10th quickest in the first two rounds and then turned the fastest lap of the third and final session to earn the top starting position. The strong effort marks Logano’s first NSCS pole at Richmond and Team Penske’s 109 NSCS pole. His teammate Brad Keselowski will start from the seventh position in the No. Alliance Truck Parts Ford.
“We have a fast Shell Pennzoil Ford,” said Logano. “I thought we had a shot at the pole all along but after the first run it wasn’t very good and I started second guessing. We made some adjustments and didn’t make much ground on it the second round. Then we swung for the fence. When you are sitting 11th on the board you only have one spot to lose so we went for it and she turned and off she went. That isn’t normal for us. Normally we are really fast in the first run and it is hard for us to stay that fast all the way through. The guys did a great job getting us faster today. It is fun because you go out and run all these laps and that lap didn’t even actually feel that good because you have seven or eight laps on your tires and the car is sliding around a lot so it is funny that the pole sitting car is sliding all over the place but everyone is on old tires out there.”
