HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Team Penske Fords claimed the front row spots for Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at EchoPark Speedway.
Ryan Blaney won the pole with a lap time of 30.815 seconds at 179.912 mph on Saturday.
Blaney’s teammate, Joey Logano, was second with a lap time of 30.851 seconds at 179.702 mph.
“Feels good to have a Penske front row,” Blaney said, adding he also can work well with other Ford drivers. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get organized at some point but it’s nice that Joey and I are starting at the front.”
Blaney is third in the Cup Series points race. Points leader Denny Hamlin and second-place Tyler Reddick qualified 28th and 31st, respectively, in their 23XI Racing Toyotas.
“They normally don’t qualify great at these speedways,” Blaney said, adding he expects the Toyota cars “can probably be aggressive in the draft. ... You look at the spring race here. The Toyotas were really good in the race.”
Reddick won at EchoPark Speedway on Feb. 22.
Kyle Larson was third in qualifying, followed by Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott qualified sixth and seventh, respectively. Elliott won last summer’s race at his home track near Atlanta.
Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Charles Odum, The Associated Press
