Going off 18th Joey Logano in the Home Depot Toyota set a mark few could reach. His lap of 50.112 seconds at 179.598 mph put him in the #1 spot shattering Kasey Kahne's record from 2004 (52.1639 secs/ 172.533 mph)
"Hopefully it hangs in there. I think I'll be in the top 5 somewhere hopefully , but I have a really fast Home Depot car since we unloaded here at Pocono a few days ago. We just have to keep that going," said Joey Logano.
Chasing Logano was Carl Edwards. The 99 car smooth thru the tricky triangle but just a hair off at 179.866 mph. He settles for second.
"Track position is very important that's why we hope this qualifying lap holds up. If we could be in that top 5 or 6 to start the race that would make a big difference. It seems counter intuitive that at a 2.5 mile race track you would have trouble getting track position and passing people. It's so fast. It's really a precision race and if you give up a couple of spots it's really hard to get them back," said Carl Edwards.
Paul Menard was 4th quickest in Friday's practice. Saturday during qualifying Menard muscled up and his electric lap of 178.582 in the Sylvania Chevrolet putting him 3rd.
"I've said before I think we need to be on the inside. So if we're not third I would like to be fifth. If not fifth then seventh, but you want to be on the inside going into turn 1. The car is really good in qualifying trim, but we need to find a little bit more in race trim," said Paul Menard.
Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Mark Martin gave it a try, but the pole and new track record belong to the 20 car and Joey Logano.
Everybody including the drivers excited about the new track surface here at Pocono. Fresh pavement has made for record speeds, but I still believe track position and fuel mileage will be key on Sunday for the 31st annual Pocono 400 presented by #NASCAR.