It was a case of another missed opportunity for Joey Logano, who failed to secure the pole position for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by the slimmest of margins. He will start from P2, behind No. 71 driver Michael McDowell, but the missed opportunity hasn’t dampened his hopes for the race.
Joey Logano Aiming for His First Win of 2025
For the second time in two races, Logano missed out on qualifying as the lead car by the slimmest of margins. Last week in Phoenix, William Byron saved the best for last, becoming the final car to do a timed lap and sweep the field away.
This week, Logano felt much better about his chances in qualification, but it still wasn’t meant to be. McDowell’s lap around the 1.5-mile circuit was a hundredth of a second faster than Logano, meaning the latter would start the race from P2.
Speaking after the qualification session, the four-time winner at Las Vegas claimed missing out on pole position for the second consecutive time “hurts a little bit.”
Logano, 34, said, “Gosh, it’s close! Two weeks in a row to be that close to pole and not get one. Hurts a little bit.”
"Gosh this close!"@joeylogano can't believe he just missed out on Pole again! 😅 pic.twitter.com/szAmeMnzU3
— Sports on Prime (@SportsonPrime) March 15, 2025
However, the missed opportunity hasn’t affected the Team Penske driver’s morale heading into the race. Satisfied with his Mustang’s qualifying trim, Logano knows his team needs to work on the car’s race trim to be competitive.
The team knows what areas need work, and they will put in the hours to ensure Logano stays in the lead.
Results-wise, it has been a slow start to life in 2025 for the Team Penske driver, who is still in search of his first win of the season. In four starts, he has one stage win and one DNF to his name, leaving him in P9 in the overall driver standings.
However, that doesn’t mean that the No. 22 car is slow. Logano has led the most laps in 2025, with the tally currently standing at 207, making him the only driver to have led 200+ laps so far. Christopher Bell has the second-best tally of laps led in 2025, with 114, which is nearly 100 laps less than the Penske driver.
Moreover, if history is any indication, Logano’s team loves a slow start to the season. In 2023 and 2024, the Penske drivers were nowhere near the top of the rankings when the season began. But when it ended, Ryan Blaney (2023 champion) and Logano (2024 champion) finished where it mattered most.