Logano fast in Happy Hour but needs a bit more

LONG POND, Pa. -- Joey Logano was laughing Saturday at Pocono Raceway when he admitted his second-fastest lap of Happy Hour was a one-shot deal, on his first lap on the track.

"I don't know that it means [we've gotten over any humps here] -- we just had a good first lap in practice," Logano said. "We can put up a helluva lap, we've just got to figure out the rest of it. I don't know where the speed went from there. We probably need three-tenths [of a second] or so, throughout a run.

Pocono

Happy Hour

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet
2.	Joey Logano	Toyota
3.	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet
4.	Reed Sorenson	Toyota
5.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet

• Complete speeds

"We're close, just a little bit off -- but three-tenths here isn't a whole bunch, just a little bit here and a little bit there. So it's not much. I was trying to find it and trying to find the balance, but Turn 3 here, for me, has been a struggle ever since I've been here.

"I feel like Turn 1 used to be, but I feel like I've got Turn 1 figured out as far as what I need to do. Turn 2 I've always been good, for some reason but Turn 3, it's -- I hate it. But that's part of it. We did good the last race here, so we'll figure it out. We'll get it."

The corner is fairly unique on the series and Pocono added a twist a couple of seasons ago when it paved a single lane through the middle of the corner.

"It's such a long, flat corner and you run up against the wall, not a typical line that you'd run through a corner like that, because of where the grip is with that new asphalt patch," Loganoa said. 'You've got to give up something to make it good on the exit and the guys that give up the least are the ones that make something happen."

Jeff Burton's No. 31 Chevrolet was fastest in final preparations for Sunday's Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500, with his 53.913-second lap -- three-tenths better than Logano's 53.94. But like Logano and actually the top 21 drivers on the Happy Hour time sheet, Burton also did his best lap on his first.

What was probably a better indicator of a potential winner Sunday was the best average lap time, and two-time Pocono winner Jimmie Johnson claimed that honor with his 163.664 mph average over 33 laps. Johnson's best lap (53.967 second, 166.769 mph) put his No. 48 Chevrolet third in Happy Hour.

Logano's teammate, four-time Pocono winner Denny Hamlin -- who's actually riding a string of two consecutive victories here -- had the second-best average (163.653 mph).

Richard Childress Racing once again looks to be the best organization on Sunday. Sprint Cup points leader Kevin Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet had the third-best average speed, 163.615 mph over 18 laps, while teammate Clint Bowyer (163.351 over 26) was fourth and Burton (163.156 over 23) was sixth.

Logano had the 19th-best average in Happy Hour, 162.478 over 27 laps. His other teammate, Kyle Busch, was 15th-best (162.670).

But while Logano also admitted Pocono -- particularly its beguiling Turn 3 -- wasn't the best track in his repertoire, he said he had a lot of faith he and his No. 20 Toyota team had a real shot to win on Sunday.

"I think we'll be OK," Logano said. "We're starting 17th, which is kind of a letdown, but we'll power through that because we're definitely a lot better than that."

Despite downplaying his ability here, which has resulted in finishes of 23rd, 27th and 13th, Logano also knows he was headed for a potential top-five finish in the June race at Pocono before he and Kevin Harvick got together in Turn 3.

"We're going to try to do the same thing we did the last time we were here," Logano said. "We ran about 10th or 11th throughout the race and by the end we were good and we had the car exactly where we needed it."

And finally, Logano made the greatest revelation of all -- despite laughing at himself when he said it.

"When you think about it, we do that at a lot of places for some reason," Logano said. "Last weekend at Indy we ran about 15th most of the day and at the end, we picked it up to finish ninth. We just need to figure out what we need to do to get our car better earlier in the race so we can really fine tune it at the end, instead of just getting it there."

That would equal what Logano felt he did in June before his contentious coming together with Harvick. The timing would be right, since Logano hasn't scored a top-five since the sixth race of the season, a second at Martinsville.

"I'm looking at it that we've got a top-10 car with top-five potential," Logano said. "The last time here I was thinking top-15 might lead to a top-10 -- and we ran in the top 10 all day and should have finished top-five. I still kind of count that as one [laughing]."

Jeff Gordon, who was only 24th on the Happy Hour sheet in his No. 24 Chevrolet, was quickest in Saturday morning's opening 50-minute session. Gordon's best lap in the 16 his car turned was in 53.590 seconds, an average of 167.942 mph, on his first lap on the track.

Gordon's team also was responsible for the most unique event in the two incident-free practices. With Gordon's wife, Ingrid, expecting the couple's second child some time soon, Camping World Truck Series regular Aric Almirola also ran some laps in Gordon's car, in case Ingrid goes into labor and Gordon needs to leave in a hurry on Sunday.

Almirola also provided the same services to Hendrick teammate Johnson when Johnson's wife, Chandra, was expecting their daughter, who ultimately was born earlier this month, away from a race weekend.

Related:
• Video: Almirola gets loose in 24 car | Practice 2 speeds