MADISON, Ill. — Team Penske driver Joey Logano continued his success at World Wide Technology Raceway by winning the NASCAR Cup Series pole position during Saturday’s qualifying for the Enjoy Illinois 300.
Logano turned a dominant lap at 137.124 miles per hour in 32.817 seconds, easily besting his nearest competitor by 0.276 of a second on the 1.25-mile oval.
It was his second pole this season – the other came at Phoenix in March – and the 35th of his Cup Series career. The pole was his first at World Wide Technology Raceway, where he has been the most successful driver since the series debuted in 2022. The three-time Cup Series champion won the inaugural race and is the only driver to record top-five finishes in all four starts at WWTR.
Before Saturday, that success had come despite modest qualifying results. Logano had a pair of top-10 starts but none better than sixth in 2023.
“It’s in your head right before you go out there because you’ve had poor qualifying sessions before … I hit it right this time,” Logano said. “That part was good. I was able to get through it pretty well and have a pretty solid (turns) three and four. The car did what it needed to do, and the car has some raw speed in it, which is very encouraging for tomorrow.”
Logano will lead the 36-car field to the green flag at 2 p.m. CT Sunday for the second race of the 10-race Chase.
The polesitter has won two of the last three Cup Series races at WWT Raceway, with Kyle Busch victorious in 2023 and Denny Hamlin last season.
Chase drivers swept all 10 of the top qualifying positions and claimed 13 of the top 15, with Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson joining Logano on the front row with a lap of 135.980 mph/33.093 secs. Ryan Blaney gave Team Penske two of the top three starting positions with a lap of 135.898 mph/33.113 secs.
Joe Gibbs Racing closed out the top five with Christopher Bell qualifying fourth (135.767 mph, 33.145 secs.) and Chase Briscoe in fifth (135.546 mph, 33.199 secs.). They were followed by Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar in sixth, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace in seventh and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott in eighth.
