NASCAR Cup Series

Logano wins pole at Martinsville; see complete qualifying results

Published Apr. 1, 2016 4:21 p.m. ET

foxsports

Joey Logano was in a class of his own Friday, leading all three rounds of qualifying to convincingly win the pole for Sunday’s STP 50o at Martinsville Speedway.

It was Logano’s third consecutive No.1 qualifying effort at the 0.526-mie Virginia short track.

Logano, of course, was famously wrecked here last fall by Matt Kenseth, which effectively knocked him out of championship contention, but Friday Logano had it going on in a big way.

In the final round. Logano turned a lap of 97.043 miles per hour in the No 22 Team Penske Ford, good enough to claim his first pole of 2016 and 15th of his career.

And that earned Logano the all-important No. 1 pit stall, which is critical here.

"I say all the time, Martinsville is the most important track to start up front,” Logano said. “And that’s why you have to come here and show what you’ve got.”

Logano is looking for his first race victory of 2016 and his first at Martinsville.

“This is a nice little fire for us to get us going,” he said of his pole. “We’ve had a good season so far, but you always want to break through and get some wins and this pole is definitely going to help some momentum.”

Kasey Kahne qualified second at 97.033 miles per hour in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Given that Kahne is mired back in 18th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points, this was a great result.

“I just kept getting better with my laps,” Kahne said. “We didn’t make any adjustments. I was like, ‘The car’s fine. Just let me get my laps a little better.’ So we did that and it was close. Joey just barely got us.”

Kahne was followed by Brian Vickers in a Stewart-Haas Chevrolet and Richard Childress Racing teammates Paul Menard and Ryan Newman.

“It takes a few weeks to kind of get in a rhythm, but everybody on this team has done a great job,” said Vickers, who is subbing for the injured Tony Stewart.

With rain nearby in Southern Virginia, it appeared weather could play a part in the proceedings. But the approaching storms held off long enough to get all three rounds of qualifying in.

Surprisingly, perhaps, Vickers was the only SHR driver to make it to the third and final round, as past Martinsville winners Kevin Harvick (19th) and Kurt Busch (23rd) struggled.

Among the big-name drivers failing to advance out of the first of three rounds of knockout qualifying were Carl Edwards (25th), SHR’s Danica Patrick (28th) and Austin Dillon (29th).

“It’s hard to play catch-up,” said Dillon, one of the pleasant surprises of the early season so far. “… I’ve struggled in qualifying here in the past and raced pretty good.”

For Sunday's full starting lineup by row, see below.