Joey Logano scored a hat trick in qualifying at Martinsville Speedway on Friday.
Logano dominated NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying to take his third straight pole with a lap at 19.513 seconds, 97.043 mph at the paper clip shaped half-mile raceway.
Logano led all three sessions in knockout qualifying, including the final one to claim the Coors Light Pole Award. It marks his 15th career pole, and his first of the 2016 season.
Logano is also the fifth driver to win three straight poles at Martinsville, joining Glen Wood, Darrell Waltrip, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon.
Logano gave much of the credit in scoring the pole to his crew chief, Todd Gordon.
“Todd does a great job with this Shell/Pennzoil Ford,” he said. “I get to drive this thing and it’s so much fun every time we come here to Martinsville, especially in qualifying. We’ve got to figure out the race part. We haven’t got that grandfather clock yet, but qualifying is something that Todd and I have wrapped our heads around and really understand what we have to do inside the race car and outside the race car.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. I say all the time that Martinsville is the most important track to start up front and that’s when you’ve got to come here and really show what you’ve got.”
Sunday will mark the first start for at Martinsville for Logano since last year’s controversial race, where contact from Matt Kenseth destroyed both drivers’ cars and eliminated Logano’s shot at the championship. Logano said that situation played into his motivation coming into the race weekend.
“To be quite honest with you, it’s hard to erase it from your mind,” he said. “It happened. It’s in the past though, but it is something that drives you. You’ve got to use things like that to motivate you – not only you and your team. I think re-watching the race and stuff like that, if that doesn’t give you a little fire, nothing does. I know I felt really excited and really pumped up and jacked up to come to this race track and show what we’re made out of. This is a good start.”
After turning the third fastest time in practice earlier in the day, Logano swept all three qualifying sessions. However, his was the only Ford to make it into the top ten starters, as Kasey Kahne’s Chevrolet will flank him on the outside of the front row.
Brian Vickers, who led Friday’s practice in Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet, will roll off from the second starting position, with Paul Menard fourth and Ryan Newman in fifth.
A.J. Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Chase Elliott rounded out the top ten qualifiers.
Ryan Blaney, driving for the legendary Wood Brothers, qualified in 12th in the first race for the Home State team at Martinsville since 2011.
“It’s nice to get to the third round, but it didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” the Rookie of the Year contender said. “We didn’t really have good speed that last round, but it’s nice to get a decent starting spot. It’s on the outside, though, so that kind of stinks, but we’ll see how our car is tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, some of the other pre-race favorites didn’t fare as well.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. suffered brake issues during his run, and didn’t make it out of the second session, putting him 21st on the starting grid.
Eight time Martinsville winner Jimmie Johnson also failed to make it out of round two, timing in at the 24th starting spot.
Carl Edwards, who comes into Martinsville off a seventh place finish two weeks ago at California and who has recorded three top five finishes in five starts this season, was 25th fastest, not making it out of the first session.
WDUN will have live MRN Radio coverage of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup STP 500 from Martinsville Speedway beginning at 12 pm on 102.9 FM and 1 pm on 550 AM.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Martinsville Speedway – Martinsville, VA
STP 500 Qualifying – April 1, 2016
1. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 97.043 mph.
2. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 97.033 mph.
3. (14) Brian Vickers, Chevrolet, 96.864 mph.
4. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 96.854 mph.
5. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 96.736 mph.
6. (47) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 96.676 mph.
7. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 96.657 mph.
8. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 96.642 mph.
9. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 96.440 mph.
10. (24) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 96.224 mph.
11. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 96.205 mph.
12. (21) Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 96.171 mph.
13. (17) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 96.637 mph.
14. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 96.622 mph.
15. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 96.617 mph.
16. (78) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 96.568 mph.
17. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 96.474 mph.
18. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 96.470 mph.
19. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 96.362 mph.
20. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 96.244 mph.
21. (88) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet, 96.049 mph.
22. (23) David Ragan, Toyota, 95.981 mph.
23. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 95.796 mph.
24. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 95.714 mph.
25. (19) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 96.083 mph.
26. (44) Brian Scott #, Ford, 95.917 mph.
27. (95) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 95.912 mph.
28. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 95.888 mph.
29. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 95.874 mph.
30. (15) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 95.840 mph.
31. (98) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 95.757 mph.
32. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 95.612 mph.
33. (38) Landon Cassill, Ford, 95.593 mph.
34. (7) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 95.545 mph.
35. (83) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 95.295 mph.
36. (34) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 95.252 mph.
37. (32) Joey Gase(i), Ford, 94.817 mph.
38. (46) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 94.246 mph.
39. (30) Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 94.218 mph.
40. (55) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 0.000 mph.
