NASCAR at Martinsville 2015 Qualifying Results: Race Order, Times and Reaction

For the first short-track race of the season, Joey Logano will be starting on the pole at Martinsville on Sunday. Logano was fast throughout the evening, but he turned it on in the final round to take the pole away on his final lap.

NASCAR passed along the news with a simple Vine of Logano with an obvious message:

Logano tweeted about the accomplishment after the news was official:

Already a Daytona 500 winner, Logano doesn't need the win to qualify for the Chase at the end of the season. However, he proves that Team Penske is still one of the teams to beat after Brad Keselowski won last week's race in Fontana, California.

Jeff Gluck of USA Today notes this is the 10th time Logano has finished on the pole in his Sprint Cup career:

Rounding out the top five were Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr. and the Hendrick duo of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Here's a look at the starting order for the STP 500. Full order can be found at NASCAR.com.

Pos.	Driver	Behind
1	Joey Logano	LEADER
2	Ryan Newman	.026
3	Martin Truex Jr.	.081
4	Jeff Gordon	.167
5	Jimmie Johnson	.173
6	Tony Stewart	.196
7	Kyle Larson	.197
8	Matt Kenseth	.211
9	Kasey Kahne	.233
10	A.J. Allmendinger	.237
11	Carl Edwards	.254
12	Brad Keselowski	.282

Official times not yet released for qualifying leaderboard.

There might have been a field full of veterans and former champions, but all eyes were firmly placed on a driver without a full-time ride yet. Chase Elliott, who will be taking over for Jeff Gordon next season, will be making his Sprint Cup debut Sunday.

That is if he was able to qualify for the Martinsville race on Friday night.

Elliott did just that with a quality first-round time in a fifth car for Hendrick Motorsports by finishing with the 27th-best time. Gluck made the news official after two drivers were unable to qualify:

Gluck passed along a quote from Elliott after finding out what took place:

NASCAR's official account provides more from the 19-year-old driver:

Ron Hornaday failed to qualify due to a wreck in the first round that brought out the red flag. Hornaday spun coming around a turn and tore off the rear end when he ran into the wall. That unfortunate wreck for Hornaday left the door open for Elliott if he needed it but left Hornady completely out of the race.

That wreck came near the end of the first round and stopped the cars on the track, giving them time to recuperate after multiple laps. As Monte Dutton of Bleacher Report points out, that end of the first round nearly didn't take place:

Hornaday was the lone driver to wreck in the first round of qualifying, but he wasn't the only one to send a car to the garage.

After advancing to the second round, Justin Allgaier experienced a similar wreck as Hornaday by running up into the wall. Luckily, Allgaier had already made the race based on his earlier time but might have to move to a different car, which would force him to the back of the field.

Fox Sports: NASCAR gives a look at the damage sustained for the H Scott Motorsports machine:

Another driver who experienced troubles was Casey Mears. After qualifying for the race, it was revealed he had transmission issues, as Bob Pockrass of ESPN.com notes:

Allgaier and Mears have a long road ahead if they plan to compete Sunday, but the entire field will be trying to catch Logano. Clearly having a fast car, maintaining that position up front will be critical for Logano on Sunday on a track that typically eats up cars.

The Paperclip was dominated by Kurt Busch last Spring, who won his lone race of 2014 at the track. However, Hendrick has typically blistered the field with Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the fall race. Having five cars in the field, Hendrick might just maintain that stranglehold over the track.

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