Joey Logano has made a statement on his return to Martinsville Speedway with pole position for the STP 500.

It may have been his 15th career pole and third-straight at the “Paperclip”; to tie a record with Jeff Gordon. However, most of the talk was about but it being the first time back at the shortest track in NASCAR since being dumped off the circuit and out of championship contention by Matt Kenseth in October.

“You’ve got to use things like that to motivate you – not only you and your team,” said Logano.

“I know I felt really excited and really pumped up and jacked up to come to this race track and show what we’re made out of. This is a good start.

“Qualifying here is more important than any other race track we go to. Having a good pit stall pays a lot here because you’re coming down pit road so many times, so I think it pays really big here.

“Also starting up front allows you to save your car and we’ve got 500 laps to go.”

The Penske driver set a lap speed was 156.176 km/h (97.043 mph) and will share the front row with Kasey Kahne, with Tony Stewart’s substitute driver Brian Vickers and Paul Menard lining up on the second row.

QUALIFYING: STP 500 – Martinsville Speedway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	MPH	BEST TIME	BEHIND
1	22	Joey Logano		Shell Pennzoil	97.043	19.513	Leader
2	5	Kasey Kahne		Great Clips	97.033	19.515	–0.002
3	14	Brian Vickers		Janssen Arnie’s Army Charitable Foundation Chevrolet SS	96.864	19.549	–0.036
4	27	Paul Menard		Libman / Menards	96.854	19.551	–0.038
5	31	Ryan Newman		Grainger	96.736	19.575	–0.062
6	47	AJ Allmendinger		Kroger / Butterfinger / Coffeemate	96.676	19.587	–0.074
7	18	Kyle Busch		M&M’s 75th Anniversary	96.657	19.591	–0.078
8	11	Denny Hamlin		FedEx Express	96.642	19.594	–0.081
9	20	Matt Kenseth		Dollar General	96.440	19.635	–0.122
10	24	Chase Elliott		3M	96.224	19.679	–0.166
11	2	Brad Keselowski		Miller Lite	96.205	19.683	–0.170
12	21	Ryan Blaney		Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire + Auto Center	96.171	19.690	–0.177
13	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr		Fastenal Ford Fusion	96.637	19.595	–0.082
14	16	Greg Biffle		Roush Performance Ford Fusion	96.622	19.598	–0.085
15	1	Jamie McMurray		Bad Boy Off Road / Beechcraft	96.617	19.599	–0.086
16	78	Martin Truex Jr		Furniture Row	96.568	19.609	–0.096
17	42	Kyle Larson		Target	96.474	19.628	–0.115
18	13	Casey Mears		GEICO	96.470	19.629	–0.116
19	4	Kevin Harvick		Jimmy John’s	96.362	19.651	–0.138
20	43	Aric Almirola		STP	96.244	19.675	–0.162
21	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr		Nationwide	96.049	19.715	–0.202
22	23	David Ragan		Dr. Pepper	95.981	19.729	–0.216
23	41	Kurt Busch		Haas Automation / Monster Energy	95.796	19.767	–0.254
24	48	Jimmie Johnson		Lowe’s	95.714	19.784	–0.271
25	19	Carl Edwards		Arris	96.083	19.708	–0.195
26	44	Brian Scott		Goody’s	95.917	19.742	–0.229
27	95	Michael McDowell		KLove Radio Chevrolet SS	95.912	19.743	–0.230
28	10	Danica Patrick		TaxAct	95.888	19.748	–0.235
29	3	Austin Dillon		Dow	95.874	19.751	–0.238
30	15	Clint Bowyer		5-Hour Energy	95.840	19.758	–0.245
31	98	Cole Whitt		TBA	95.757	19.775	–0.262
32	6	Trevor Bayne		Advocare Ford Fusion	95.612	19.805	–0.292
33	38	Landon Cassill		MDS Transport	95.593	19.809	–0.296
34	7	Regan Smith		APC Chevrolet	95.545	19.819	–0.306
35	83	Matt DiBenedetto		Cosmo Motors	95.295	19.871	–0.358
36	34	Chris Buescher		CSX / Play It Safe	95.252	19.880	–0.367
37	32	Joey Gase		Donate Life	94.817	19.971	–0.458
38	46	Michael Annett		Pilot Flying J	94.246	20.092	–0.579
39	30	Josh Wise		Curtis Key Plumbing	94.218	20.098	–0.585
40	55	Reed Sorenson		TBA	0.000	0.000	-19.513

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