Race Weekend Central

Joey Logano Paces Both XFINITY Series Practices at Atlanta

Team Penske is back on top once again. Daytona 500 champion Joey Logano has momentum on his side following a week full of media appearances across the east coast, and he was able to drive his No. 22 Ford to the top of the charts during both of Friday’s practice sessions for the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Logano set the pace in first practice on Friday morning with a speed of 182.807 mph. Running only two laps, which six other drivers did during the morning session, Logano prepared his car for qualifying. During the second practice, he put up the fastest lap at 182.105 mph, but ran 44 laps in the process. Coming off a season without a win in the XFINITY Series, the 24-year-old is searching for his first victory in the division since Dover of September in 2013.

Richard Childress Racing drivers Ty Dillon and Brendan Gaughan took turns at placing second on the speed chart between the two sessions. Dillon was second during the first session, with Gaughan doing so in final practice. Paul Menard was third in the afternoon session in the No. 33 car as he makes his season debut for the organization.

Rookie Daniel Suarez was 20th in his first practice session in the No. 18 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, but he made steady improvements throughout the day and finished Happy Hour fourth on the speed charts. Teammate Erik Jones, who is replacing the injured Kyle Busch for this weekend, was inside of the top 10 in both practices.

Qualifying for the Hisense 250 will take place on Saturday morning at 9:10 a.m. ET. The 163-lap spectacle is scheduled to start at approximately 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

 

About the author

Joseph started with Fronstretch in Aug. 2014 and worked his way up to become an editor in less than a year. A native of Whitestone, New York, Joseph writes for NASCAR Pole Position magazine as a weekly contributor, along with being a former intern at Newsday and the Times Beacon Record Newspapers, each on Long Island. With a focus on NASCAR, he runs our social media pages and writes the NASCAR Mailbox column, along with other features for the site.

Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter

A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

Share via