NASCAR Martinsville 2015 qualifying results: Joey Logano wins pole

As rain threatened to wash out qualifying Friday, Joey Logano knew he would start second if NASCAR was forced to set the field by points for Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. An exact scenario his crew chief hoped to see unfold.

But with a fast car, Logano disagreed with crew chief Todd Gordon and wanted the rain to relent so he could take a shot at the pole position. Just as he wished, the skies cleared and Logano delivered, posting a lap of 98.461 mph to barely top second-place qualifier Ryan Newman (98.328 mph).

The pole is Logano’s second of the season, the 10th of his career and first at the Virginia short track.

“It feels great to finally get the pole here,” Logano said. “We’ve been so close so many times and throughout my career I feel like we’ve always qualified well here, but was never able to get the pole. You win anything at Martinsville, it’s a big deal. This is such a tough race track and it means a lot to say you’ve won something here even if it’s a pole.”

Sharing Row 2 are Martin Truex Jr. and Jeff Gordon, with Jimmie Johnson starting fifth. Teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, Gordon and Johnson lead all active drivers with eight victories apiece at Martinsville. NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty is the track record holder with 15 wins.

“We’re excited about our race car, it’s been real fast,” Johnson said. “I’m not the best qualifier that’s out there. I do much better in a race situation. So, to have the car here starting in the top-five with this much speed on Friday is awesome. We get a good pit stall pick with that, and we’ll go racing on Sunday.”

Rounding out the top-10 qualifiers were Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and AJ Allmendinger. Other notables: Brad Keselowski (starts 12th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (14th), Denny Hamlin (15th) and Danica Patrick (16th).

The strong effort was encouraging for Stewart, who’s struggled through the early portion of the season with an average finish of 31.6. He finished a season-best 14th last weekend at Auto Club Speedway.

“I think last week was big progress,” Stewart said. “We got a great start to the weekend here; I mean this place is so tough. Qualifying is half the battle here if you can just get a good pit spot and get a decent starting spot to where you do not have to beat the thing to death trying to get to the front.”

Kevin Harvick -- who is seeking a ninth consecutive finish of first or second -- qualified 17th. Teammate and defending STP 500 winner Kurt Busch will start 26th. Harvick and Busch had two of the best cars the past two weeks, but neither could find much speed Friday.

Needing to qualify on time, Chase Elliott did just that and will make his Sprint Cup debut Sunday from the 27th position. Had rain canceled qualifying, the 19-year-old would have missed the race. Elliott is to take over for Gordon next season with the four-time Cup champion stepping away from full-time competition at the end of the season.

“It’s a big relief for us,” Elliott said. “We’re excited. It’s weird being excited about qualifying 27th, but we’re in the show.”

Casey Mears posted the 24th fastest time, but a broken transmission required a change. Per NASCAR rules, he will have to drop to the back of the grid Sunday.

A pair of single-car incidents briefly stopped qualifying when Ron Hornaday Jr. and Justin Allgaier each hit the outside wall. Hornaday failed to make the race, while Allgaier starts 21st. Brendan Gaughan was the only other driver who failed to qualify.