NASCAR

NASCAR Cup Sonoma: Logano beats Reddick to pole position

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5m ago

Jun 09, 2024 / 7342 Views

Evan Walker

One week after teaMMAte Austin Cindric took a surprise win at Gateway, Logano held on to the top starting position after all 10 cars hit the track in the final minute of Saturday’s final round of qualifying.

Logano’s lap at 97.771 mph was enough to claim his third pole of the 2024 season and 31st of his career. It’s the second time he’s led the field to green at the 1.99-mile road course, that underwent a complete repaving earlier this year.

It’s been a difficult season for Logano, who is still looking for his first win of the year. He did win the non-points All-Star Race last month.

“It’s nice to see the Penske cars running good again and the Fords as well,” Logano said. “I’m proud of my team. We made a lot of changes overnight. It’s nice to have had practice (on Friday) and you can go back and think about it overnight.

“We got ourselves a pole on a road course. It was an intense lap out there. You’re just on a ragged edge the whole time.”

Tyler Reddick ended up second fastest (97.771 mph) and Logano’s teammate Ryan Blaney was third (97.566 mph).

Chase Elliott and fellow Hendrick MotorSports teaMMAte Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.

Completing the top-10 starting lineup are William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain and Ty Gibbs.

On his first lap in the final round, Larson went off course in Turn 4 and caught part of the tire barrier and did some damage to the left-rear of his No. 5 Chevrolet.

CLA	DRIVER	#	MANUFACTURER	LAPS	TIME	INTERVAL	MPH
1	J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE	22	Ford	3	1'13.273		97.771
2	T. Reddick23XI RACING	45	Toyota	3	+0.083 1'13.356	0.083	97.661
3	R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE	12	Ford	3	+0.154 1'13.427	0.071	97.566
4	C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	9	Chevrolet	3	+0.157 1'13.430	0.003	97.562
5	K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	5	Chevrolet	3	+0.172 1'13.445	0.015	97.542
6	W. ByronHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	24	Chevrolet	3	+0.190 1'13.463	0.018	97.518
7	D. SuarezTRACKHOUSE RACING	99	Chevrolet	3	+0.194 1'13.467	0.004	97.513
8	A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	48	Chevrolet	3	+0.264 1'13.537	0.070	97.420
9	R. ChastainTRACKHOUSE RACING	1	Chevrolet	3	+0.287 1'13.560	0.023	97.390
10	T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING	54	Toyota	3	+0.497 1'13.770	0.210	97.113

Round 1 / Group B

After running off course in two previous attempts, Elliott bolted to the top of the session in the final minute with an average lap speed at 97.675 mph.

Elliott’s teaMMAte, Bowman, ended up second fastest (97.589 mph) while Chastain ended up third (97.574 mph).

Also advancing to the final round of qualifying were Larson and Chastain’s Trackhouse teammate Suarez.

Among those who failed to move on were A.J. Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, last year’s race winner Martin Truex Jr. and Supercars standout Cam Waters, who is making his Cup debut this weekend.

CLA	DRIVER	#	MANUFACTURER	LAPS	TIME	INTERVAL	MPH
1	C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	9	Chevrolet	4	1'13.345		97.675
2	A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	48	Chevrolet	3	+0.065 1'13.410	0.065	97.589
3	R. ChastainTRACKHOUSE RACING	1	Chevrolet	3	+0.076 1'13.421	0.011	97.574
4	K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	5	Chevrolet	3	+0.104 1'13.449	0.028	97.537
5	D. SuarezTRACKHOUSE RACING	99	Chevrolet	2	+0.130 1'13.475	0.026	97.503
6	A. AllmendingerKAULIG RACING	16	Chevrolet	3	+0.143 1'13.488	0.013	97.485
7	C. HocevarSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	77	Chevrolet	4	+0.453 1'13.798	0.310	97.076
8	C. BellJOE GIBBS RACING	20	Toyota	3	+0.525 1'13.870	0.072	96.981
9	C. LajoieSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	7	Chevrolet	3	+0.569 1'13.914	0.044	96.923
10	N. GragsonSTEWART-HAAS RACING	10	Ford	4	+0.657 1'14.002	0.088	96.808
11	M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING	19	Toyota	4	+0.660 1'14.005	0.003	96.804
12	C. BriscoeSTEWART-HAAS RACING	14	Ford	3	+0.706 1'14.051	0.046	96.744
13	D. HamlinJOE GIBBS RACING	11	Toyota	4	+0.806 1'14.151	0.100	96.614
14	J. HaleyRICK WARE RACING	51	Ford	3	+0.851 1'14.196	0.045	96.555
15	K. BuschRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING	8	Chevrolet	4	+0.920 1'14.265	0.069	96.465
16	C. WatersRFK RACING	60	Ford	4	+1.021 1'14.366	0.101	96.334
17	R. Stenhouse JrJTG DAUGHERTY RACING	47	Chevrolet	3	+1.063 1'14.408	0.042	96.280
18	B. KeselowskiRFK RACING	6	Ford	4	+1.151 1'14.496	0.088	96.166
19	J. NemechekLEGACY MOTOR CLUB	42	Toyota	5	+1.518 1'14.863	0.367	95.695

Round 1 / Group A

A flurry of drivers went out in the final minute and Reddick improved his speed to take the top spot at 97.450 mph.

“The car’s really good,” Reddick said. “This is a track we’ve had speed but have to put the whole day together. I’d like to get the pole this year.”

Logano ended up second quick (97.430 mph) and Byron was third (97.402 mph). Also advancing to the final round were Blaney and Gibbs.

Among those who failed to move on were Supercars series leader Will Brown, who is making his NASCAR debut; Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace.

Josh Berry spun around in Turn 4A after hitting the curb during his qualifying run but was able to continue without further incident.

Kaz Grala also went off course in the area Turn 3 but did not suffer any damage.

CLA	DRIVER	#	MANUFACTURER	LAPS	TIME	INTERVAL	MPH
1	T. Reddick23XI RACING	45	Toyota	3	1'13.515		97.450
2	J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE	22	Ford	3	+0.015 1'13.530	0.015	97.430
3	W. ByronHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	24	Chevrolet	3	+0.036 1'13.551	0.021	97.402
4	R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE	12	Ford	3	+0.084 1'13.599	0.048	97.338
5	T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING	54	Toyota	3	+0.201 1'13.716	0.117	97.184
6	M. McDowellFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS	34	Ford	3	+0.332 1'13.847	0.131	97.011
7	T. GillilandFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS	38	Ford	3	+0.383 1'13.898	0.051	96.944
8	A. DillonRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING	3	Chevrolet	3	+0.471 1'13.986	0.088	96.829
9	B. Wallace23XI RACING	23	Toyota	3	+0.479 1'13.994	0.008	96.819
10	Z. SmithSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	71	Chevrolet	4	+0.490 1'14.005	0.011	96.804
11	H. BurtonWOOD BROTHERS RACING	21	Ford	3	+0.530 1'14.045	0.040	96.752
12	W. BrownRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING	33	Chevrolet	3	+0.530 1'14.045	0.000	96.752
13	C. BuescherRFK RACING	17	Ford	3	+0.577 1'14.092	0.047	96.691
14	A. CindricTEAM PENSKE	2	Ford	4	+0.711 1'14.226	0.134	96.516
15	R. PreeceSTEWART-HAAS RACING	41	Ford	5	+0.960 1'14.475	0.249	96.193
16	J. BerrySTEWART-HAAS RACING	4	Ford	4	+0.970 1'14.485	0.010	96.180
17	D. HemricKAULIG RACING	31	Chevrolet	4	+1.034 1'14.549	0.064	96.098
18	K. GralaRICK WARE RACING	15	Ford	5	+1.368 1'14.883	0.334	95.669
19	E. JonesLEGACY MOTOR CLUB	43	Toyota	4	+1.690 1'15.205	0.322	95.260