Joey Logano claims NASCAR Atlanta pole in Ford onslaught

It’s a familiar sight at the still-new Atlanta Motor Speedway with Joey Logano winning the pole for a Cup Series race at the intermediate-superspeedway hybrid.

This weekend marks the third time in eight races at the new layout that the Team Penske No. 22 has taken the top spot.

“It definitely helps for the start,” Logano said. “Being up front definitely helps you control the race and that’s the name of the game here. If you can get up there and solidify the top positions, I feel like you can stay there.

“The thing is, I fee like there are a lot of what ifs that play out in this race, a lot of cautions in this race that timed out in a different way can jumble up the field. Its hard to say you’re going to be leading every lap of the race. It’s hard to do.

“On the bright side, we controlled what we could today and super proud of Team Penske, Roush Yates and Ford to keep our teams up there.

Of note, the top eight qualifiers were all Ford Performance drivers and the top spot was an identical from Logano to Josh Berry and the tie-breaker was based on current championship owner points.  

“It shows you that it’s repeatable, what we do,” Logano added. “We tied, which is hard to do, and I think the other six are all within a hundredth which is remarkable when you think of all the parts and pieces and how they can be assembled.”