By JOHN MARSHALL
AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Joey Logano already had an affinity for Phoenix Raceway.
The Workforce Penske driver had gained on the mile oval 3 times, together with the 2022 Cup Sequence title, and had 15 top-10 finishes in 31 races since 2009.
Logano’s love affair for Phoenix took a fair deeper flip final November, when he held off teammate Ryan Blaney over the ultimate 20 laps to win his third Cup Sequence title.
“It’s plenty of particular moments, however I’ve been saying it’s up to now, proper?” Logano mentioned this week. “You’ve obtained to maintain transferring ahead. It’s nonetheless enjoyable to reminisce a bit of bit, however you’ve obtained to remain on the windshield.”
Logano’s subsequent look will probably be Sunday’s 312-mile race, the fourth of the 2025 NASCAR season.
Logano was within the combine on the season-opening Daytona 500 however ended up ending thirty fifth in a late-race crash that had Kyle Busch fuming. He completed fourth at Atlanta however struggled on the street course at Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas, final week to complete twenty fourth.
Logano will begin on the entrance row on Sunday.
“There’s one million completely different variables on the market which are at all times floating round,” he mentioned. “What do groups do over the offseason to search out simply total positive aspects, proper? This will probably be a great measure to see, did we work laborious sufficient over the offseason or did everybody else catch us?”
Tire choices
Sunday’s race will mark the return of Goodyear’s possibility tires.
Every Cup Sequence workforce can have six main units of tires and two possibility tires, the identical setup because the summer time race at Richmond Raceway final 12 months. The choice tires have extra grip however put on off quicker, including a layer of technique to the race.
Phoenix Raceway has had plenty of pack racing the previous few years and the hope is the choice tires will create extra passing alternatives.
“One of many causes it was plenty of enjoyable to observe was since you had completely different folks working completely different races and completely different agendas,” Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez mentioned. “It simply creates extra alternatives and extra instruments to do various things.”
Byron on the pole
Daytona 500 winner William Byron will begin on the pole after posting the quickest lap late in qualifying.
Logano had the quickest lap of 27.028 seconds (133.1 mph) earlier than Bryon clipped him by .098 seconds for his 14th profession pole.
“I don’t like William Byron anymore,” Logano joked.
Carson Hocevar and Josh Berry will begin on the second row.
Blaney in Phoenix
Logano isn’t the one driver who likes racing in Phoenix.
Ryan Blaney has completed within the prime 10 in his final 9 races at Phoenix Raceway, together with prime 5 the final season. His top-five streak is the second longest in Phoenix historical past, behind Jimmie Johnson (10), and the longest at any observe since Martin Truex Jr. at Richmond from 2018-2022.
Blaney has completed runner-up 4 of the previous 5 years, but he nonetheless hasn’t taken the checkers in 18 races since 2016. He completed second within the Cup Sequence championship race final 12 months when he couldn’t observe down Logano.
Odds and ends
Katherine Legge will change into the eighth feminine driver to run a NASCAR race within the fashionable period (1972-2025) and the primary since Danica Patrick made her ultimate begin on the Daytona 500 seven years in the past. … Christopher Bell is making an attempt to change into the primary Cup Sequence driver to win three straight races with the NextGen automobile and the primary total since Kyle Larson in 2021. The driving force for Joe Gibbs Racing gained at Atlanta and Circuit of America this season, and he gained the spring race at Phoenix final 12 months. Bell will begin eleventh on Sunday. … Workforce Penske’s Austin Cindric will begin 14th after avoiding a suspension for deliberately spinning Ty Dillon at Circuit of the Americas. Cindric was penalized 50 factors and fined $50,000 after retaliating in opposition to Dillon for transferring him up the observe earlier within the race.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
