BRISTOL, Tenn. – Joey Logano entered Friday’s Food City 500 qualifying session with low expectations.
The 19-year-old driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota has made just two starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, and had never really solved the tight half-mile concrete oval.
“This is one of my tougher race tracks and I thought I really sucked here,” Logano said. “I guess I don’t know.”
Much to his surprise, Logano earned his first career pole in 44 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races with a lap of 15.396 seconds at 124.630 mph. Logano also become the youngest Sprint Cup pole winner in track history, breaking the previous record of Kyle Busch by two days.
“I never thought it would come here,” said Logano, referring to his landmark run.
Traditional track favorite Kurt Busch earned the second starting spot with a lap at 123.857 mph, while Dave Blaney, four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson and five-time BMS winner Jeff Gordon rounded out the top five.
Logano’s experience at BMS dates back to a Hooter’s Pro Cup race in 2006. Survival has been more of an issue than speed for Logano.
“I’ve always been fast and I’ve always been caught up in a wreck or knocked the fender and blew a tire, stubbed in the nose, blew a motor – I’ve about done it all here besides have an uneventful race,” Logano said. “That’s why this is one of my tougher race tracks.”
According to Logano, the credit for his pole can be traced to track experience and the experienced hand of his crew chief, Greg Zipadelli.
“Me and Zippy [Greg Zipadelli] work great together,” Logano said. “I think it just took us a long time to figure it out. Me and Zippy are definitely getting along the best we ever have and I think that’s one of the biggest things that helps us right now.”
Blaney authored the other big surprise of the session with his performance in the underfunded PRISM Motorsports Toyota. Blaney drew the ire of NASCAR officials in the Feb. 21 race at Auto Club Speedway in California for not having a full pit crew.
The PRISM group has been among the group of teams that has followed the controversial start and park practice where a driver retires to the pits after completing only a few laps. Blaney said Friday that he’s unsure what the race strategy will be for Sunday.
“Phil Parsons [team owner] and my guys could say that we’re racing … hard to know what the plan is just yet,” said Blaney, who qualified among the top 10 in both BMS Sprint Cup events last year. “If we aren’t going to race all day, then there is that possibility. It’s whatever the team kind of decides. It’s a hard thing all the way around.”
Fan favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr. earned the No. 18 starting spot.
No driver was happier late Friday than Logano.
“I’m pretty pumped up,” Logano said. “I’m going to be sleeping with a smile on my face.”
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