Logano Claims Third Straight Virginia Lottery Pole Award - Speedway Digest

Perhaps Joey Logano should permanently engrave his name on the Virginia Lottery Pole Award at Martinsville Speedway.

In claiming the top starting spot for Sunday’s STP 500, the driver of the No. 22 became the first driver since Jeff Gordon to win three straight poles at the historic half-mile racetrack.

“First off, anytime you can tie Jeff Gordon with a record that he’s got here at Martinsville makes me feel good,” Logano said. “The fact of the matter is we don’t have one of those trophies yet. We’ve figured out the qualifying part really well, but we really want to be able to win this race.”

Logano, who led a race high 207 laps at Martinsville last fall before an incident with Matt Kenseth ended his day, knows the advantage to starting up front at Martinsville.

“Qualifying here is more important than any other racetrack we go to,” he said. “Having a good pit stall pays a lot here because you’re coming down pit road so many times, so I think it pays really big here. And also starting up front allows you to save your car.”

Kasey Kahne qualified second and feels good heading into Sunday.

“We had a top-10 here the last race, last year; with the back-up car because I crashed it in qualifying and this car is better than our primary car was last time,” Kahne said. “These guys are always building better cars, so that’s the known. But I feel good about the car and we just need to work through it tomorrow in practice and get it driving the best we can for long runs.”

Brian Vickers, who is filling in for the injured Tony Stewart, will start third.

“It takes a few weeks to get a rhythm with the team and everyone on this team has done a great job,” Vickers said. “Mike (Bugarewicz, crew chief) builds a great team. Stewart-Haas gave us a great race car. And we were happy with it all day. I’m pleased, but not satisfied. We wanted the pole.”

Paul Menard and Ryan Newman rounded out the top-5.

Tomorrow, the Camping World Truck Series is in action for the Alpha Energy Solutions 250.

The Sprint Cup Series race is Sunday at 1.

Tickets start at just $55 and can be purchased by calling 877.RACE.TIX or online at www.martinsvillespeedway.com.

Martinsville Speedway PR