Two-time 2020 NASCAR Cup Series race winner Joey Logano will start on the pole for the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400, most commonly known as the Brickyard 400, on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Logano’s first pole of the season comes as a result of a random draw among the top-12 teams in Cup Series car owner points.
Kurt Busch will start next to Logano on the front row for his 700th-career Cup Series race.
“It’s amazing,” Busch said. “To have this opportunity and to have been blessed to have raced with so many great race teams over the years, just making it past the local track was something that I thought was an achievement, because my dad was a local racer. He won a lot. But it was like money, sponsors, and the whole challenge of even getting to like the Southwest Tour and Late Model division, that was even tough for us way back in the past. So it’s amazing. Twenty years of racing at the top series level and now having 700 starts, I never would have guessed.”
Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and Jimmie Johnson drew to third and fourth starting positions to line up in row two Sunday, but after the drawing, Johnson tested positive for COVID-19. NASCAR Xfinity Series driver for JR Motorsports, Justin Allgaier, will substitute for Johnson, and because of the driver change after the qualifying draw, Allgaier will start the race in the back.
Aric Almirola drew the fifth starting position to share row three with sixth-place starter Denny Hamlin, the series’ most recent winner at Pocono Raceway.
“Coming off the strong weekend at Pocono, I’m looking forward to getting to Indy and trying to get my first win at The Brickyard,” Hamlin said. “It’s another crown jewel race and one I’d like to add to my collection. This FedEx team is really strong right now, and that’s a testament to all the hard work at the shop preparing our cars and giving us the chance to be strong from the start of the first run each week. All the guys are really on top of their game, and that makes it fun to drive these cars. I know we have a shot to win every weekend when we show up at the track. This weekend at Indy will be a little different with Indyar competing at the track, too, but I’m excited to see how it plays out.”
Two of Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., drew the seventh and eighth starting positions to line up in the fourth row of Sunday’s starting grid.
Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott also drew top-10 starting positions, with Keselowski in ninth and Elliott in eighth.
Separate drawings were held for the teams 13th through 24th in the owner standings and those 25th through 36th. Open, or non-chartered teams, were assigned starting positions 37th through 40th, as in recent race weekends.
