Joey Logano wins Busch Light pole for Gateway Chase race

Joey Logano blew the NASCAR Cup Series field away to win the Busch Light Pole Award on Saturday at Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway. The No. 22 Team Penske driver set the fastest lap in qualifying at 137.124 mph and will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday's Enjoy Illinois 300 (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the second race of The Chase presented by Mobil 1. RELATED: Starting lineup | Chase standings Kyle Larson was second at 135.980 mph with a lap time of 33.093 seconds, more than two-tenths of a second slower than Logano, who won the inaugural Cup race at St. Louis in 2022 and enters the event tied for eighth in points, 72 points behind series leader Denny Hamlin. Ryan Blaney will start third (135.898 mph) ahead of Christopher Bell (135.767 mph) and Chase Briscoe (135.546 mph). Drivers contending in The Chase composed the entire top 10 of qualifying to set the starting lineup for Sunday's race with Carson Hocevar, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs and defending race winner Hamlin rounding out the top 10. Austin Cindric, the 2024 Gateway winner, will start 13th ahead of fellow Chase drivers Ryan Preece in 14th and Daniel Suárez in 15th. Tyler Reddick will start 18th with Chris Buescher 21st and William Byron 24th. Buescher's No. 17 RFK Racing team failed pre-race technical inspection twice and lost pit-stall selection and car chief Joshua Sisco for the weekend. Byron enters Sunday's race last in the 16-driver Chase standings, 114 points back of Hamlin. Practice recap Ryan Blaney set the fastest single lap in NASCAR Cup Series practice on Saturday afternoon, leading a Team Penske-affiliated trio atop the leaderboard with a best lap at 135.665 mph. MORE: Practice results | At-track photos Joey Logano was second (135.514 mph), ahead of Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry (135.501 mph), Connor Zilisch (135.371 mph) and Tyler Reddick (135.298 mph). Blaney was also quickest on 10-lap averages over Logano, Carson Hocevar, Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric. Bell, last week's winner at Darlington Raceway, posted the fastest 15-lap, 20-lap and 30-lap averages in Saturday's 50-minute session. Defending Gateway winner and current points leader Denny Hamlin posted just the 30th-best lap with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe 29th. Hamlin showed more promise, however, in the 20-lap average with the fifth-best mark. This story will be updated.