Joey Logano wins pole position for NASCAR race in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- Joey Logano won the pole position for Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 400 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway under NASCAR’s new format of knockout qualifying.

Logano’s teammate Brad Keselowski qualified second Friday, giving Team Penske the front row for the second consecutive week. Keselowski won the pole last weekend in Phoenix and Logano started second.

Logano’s pole-winning lap around the 1.5-mile speedway was a track qualifying record of 193.278 mph, eclipsing the standard of 190.456 mph set by Kasey Kahne in 2012.

This was the first use of a three-round session under the new NASCAR qualifying format for tracks 1.25 miles and longer.

The entire 43-car field qualified for 25 minutes in the first round, and the 24 fastest drivers advanced to a 10-minute second round.

The 12 fastest drivers in the second round then moved to the final, five-minute session in which Logano had his pole-winning lap.

Among the drivers who failed to reach the final round were Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. (who starts 14th); Kevin Harvick (16th), who won the Phoenix race; Kyle Busch (20th); Danica Patrick (22nd) and Tony Stewart (24th).