Joey Logano lays down blazing qualifying lap to take NASCAR Cup pole at Gateway

Joey Logano laid down one of the best qualifying laps of his NASCAR Cup Series career on Saturday at Gateway. 

The three-time champion blew past the field with a qualifying lap of 32.817 seconds/137.124 miles per hour around the 1.25-mile Illinois track. No other driver broke into the 32-second bracket, nor did anyone else have an average lap speed of 136 miles per hour or more. 

The pole is the second of 2026 for Logano and the 35th of his Cup Series career. His first pole of the season came at Phoenix in March. 

Defending series champion Kyle Larson will join Logano on the front row, with Ryan Blaney, who led Logano in practice, qualifying third. Southern 500 winner Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top five, with Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs and points leader Denny Hamlin completing the top 10. 

Alex Bowman in 11th was the highest qualifying non-Chase driver. 

Hamlin leads Bell in the standings by 12 points ahead of Sunday's race, with Logano sitting eighth in the standings, 72 points back of Hamlin. 

Logano won the inaugural Cup race at Gateway in 2022, while Hamlin is the defending winner at the venue.

Notable qualifying results

Other notable qualifying results include 2024 Gateway winner Austin Cindric in 13th, Ryan Preece in 14th, Daniel Suarez in 15th, Josh Berry in 16th, Tyler Reddick in 18th, Connor Zilisch in 19th, Chris Buescher in 21st, Brad Keselowski in 23rd, William Byron in 24th and Shane van Gisbergen in 35th. 

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the slowest driver to take time, qualifying last (36th) with a lap of 34.215 seconds/131.521 miles per hour.

Sunday's Enjoy Illinois 300 will go green shortly after 3 p.m. ET, with coverage on USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.