NASCAR Starting Lineup At Pocono Raceway: Joey Logano Shakes Rumors To Win Second Pole Of 2011

Putting all of the job security rumors out of his mind, Joey Logano was able to post the fastest qualifying time of Saturday’s session at Pocono Raceway and put the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota on a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole for the second time in 2011.

Admitting the rumors of Carl Edwards taking over the No. 20 ride stayed in the back of his mind, Logano said he never let them come into play on the race track and remained focused throughout. In addition, the focus on those rumors have kept his team’s momentum out of the spotlight.

“The last six or seven races, our team has done a good job,” he said. “We’ve been doing a good job lately, building a lot of momentum. If we keep doing that, eventually a win is going to happen. Confidence in the whole team is definitely up right now, especially with me.”

Rolling off 26th in qualifying, Logano said a lot of teams looked at the weekend schedule and saw an early qualifying session and sandbagged their practice sessions to get a late qualifying run. The effort paid off for the No. 20 team as the weather held off and his lap time held up.

Posting the second fastest time of the day was Red Bull Racing’s Kasey Kahne. His second-straight outside pole run, Kahne is looking to better his 18th-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Martin Truex Jr, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five, while Denny Hamlin, Paul Menard, Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick made up the rest of the top 10.

Jeff Gordon tagged the wall during his qualifying lap, but was still able to post the 31st-fastest time and was not forced to a back-up car.

Here is the starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR race at Pocono Raceway:

DNQ: Geoffrey Bodine, TJ Bell, Mike Skinner