Joey Logano will start from the pole in Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway after an incredible 89.754 second run in the combined multi-lap and pit stop qualifying session. Despite only having the fifth-best pit stop, Logano and the No. 22 Team Penske group were the only team to secure a run under 90 seconds in length.
The No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse is fast, and Logano was ultra-aggressive on pit road entry and exit, which helped him make up the pit stop time deficit.
Logano was actually unaware that the rules for All-Star Qualifying meant that he had secured the overall pole for the All-Star Race this year, as last year it only secured the pole for Heat Race No. 1. But Logano is proud to take the All-Star pole in what he feels is the most fun qualifying session in NASCAR.
“The rules change every week, but it’s the All-Star Race,” Logano quipped. “Very proud of the whole team. This qualifying session is the most fun session of the year. And it really takes the whole team, right? The car has to go fast, we have to execute getting on pit road well, the spotter has to do a good job with helping me get through my lights, and being on the same page with me there, gotta be able to stop in the stall, and the pit crew has to do their part, and then back up onto the race track. It really takes every crew member.”
Brad Keselowski, and his No. 6 RFK Racing team clocked in the second-fastest run with a 90.140 second effort. Keselowski will roll from the pole in Heat Race No. 2 on Saturday.
RELATED: NASCAR All-Star Qualifying Results
RELATED: NASCAR All-Star Heat Race Starting Lineups
While Keselowski was close, Logano is the only driver to lock in their starting position in Saturday’s qualifying session. The remainder of the starting lineup for the 2024 NASCAR All-Star Race will be decided by the results from the two Heat Races, which will be contested Saturday evening.
Heat Race No. 1 will set the inside lanes the lineup, while Heat Race No. 2 will set the outside lanes of the lineup.
While Logano will start Sunday’s $1-million winner-take-all All-Star Race from the pole, Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing crew took home the $100,000 prize by winning the Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge with the fastest pit stop time in the session.
Bell’s team officially clocked in with a pit stop of 13.233 sec., which was one tenth of a second faster than Keselowski’s No. 6 team.
Many teams ran into issues on the stops throughout the challenge, which the No. 20 team says is due to the cars being setup differently than last year in the event.
“The cars were actually set up in race trim, so it wasn’t as easy as last year, where they just set it up for us. We just pitted and went as fast as you could go. That’s a lot of the trouble you saw today,” jackman Derrell Edwards said. “Besides that, I wouldn’t want to battle with any other guy and I wouldn’t want to do it for any other driver than Christopher Bell.”
While they obviously achieve to be their best individually, the No. 20 team says their speed on pit road wouldn’t be possible without teamwork.
“I’m blessed to be with a good group of guys, right? I couldn’t do this if I didn’t have a good supporting cast,” rear changer Michael Hicks said. “Those guys are the best on pit road, we have a stud for a driver.”
The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew is the pit crew that actually won the Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge last season when they were pitting the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing car. Last season, JGR swapped pit crews for the No. 20 and No. 54 teams.
