Joey Logano took the pole for the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway. Logano set the pole with a lap at 192.397 mph and in 28.067 seconds in his Team Penske Ford.
“Definitely cool to get another pole,” Logano said. “Last year it took us pretty much the whole year to get one pole,” he said. “We won a lot of first and second sessions, but we’d fall on our face in the third session. So it’s pretty special to be able to figure out these third sessions and still have a lot of speed in our car when we get to those rounds. You don’t get anything for winning the first and second rounds is what I figured out last year.”
Coming close with a very late run was Kasey Kahne. Kahne turned a lap of 191.911 mph/28.138 seconds to take the second spot.
“Our final run was our best run of the day. So, I’m happy with the car and the speed of the car and the engine and the guys for making it better throughout the entire day. I look forward to tomorrow night. It’s going to be an interesting race. I always enjoy racing here at Kansas and we’ll see what we’ve got.”
Keselowski will start third in Saturday night’s race. Failing to make the third round were such notables as six-time champion Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and former champions Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart. The only driver who missed the race was Brendan Gaughan.
Starting Grid for SpongeBob SquarePants 400:
| POS. | CAR # | DRIVER | SPONSOR | BEST SPEED | BEST TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | 22 | Joey Logano | AAA Insurance | 192.4 | 28.067 | Leader |
| 2 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Great Clips | 191.91 | 28.138 | 0.071 |
| 3 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Avaya | 191.86 | 28.146 | 0.079 |
| 4 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | Furniture Row/Visser Precision | 191.78 | 28.157 | 0.09 |
| 5 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Stanley | 191.58 | 28.187 | 0.12 |
| 6 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Jimmy John’s/ Budweiser | 191.3 | 28.228 | 0.161 |
| 7 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Cheez-It/Sponge Bob Square Pants Ford Fusion | 191.02 | 28.27 | 0.203 |
| 8 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Haas Automation | 190.85 | 28.294 | 0.227 |
| 9 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | McDonald’s | 190.23 | 28.387 | 0.32 |
| 10 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Target | 190.15 | 28.398 | 0.331 |
| 11 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | American Red Cross | 189.9 | 28.436 | 0.369 |
| 12 | 18 | Erik Jones | M&M’s Red Nose Day | 189.54 | 28.49 | 0.423 |
| 13 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Freight | 190.71 | 28.315 | 0.248 |
| 14 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Farmland | 190.69 | 28.318 | 0.251 |
| 15 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Quicken Loans | 190.56 | 28.338 | 0.271 |
| 16 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 | 190.51 | 28.345 | 0.278 |
| 17 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Nationwide | 190.5 | 28.347 | 0.28 |
| 18 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Dollar General | 190.48 | 28.35 | 0.283 |
| 19 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Lowe’s | 190.28 | 28.379 | 0.312 |
| 20 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Zest Ford Fusion | 190.23 | 28.387 | 0.32 |
| 21 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | 5-Hour Energy | 190.19 | 28.393 | 0.326 |
| 22 | 27 | Paul Menard | Pittsburgh Paints / Menards | 190.05 | 28.414 | 0.347 |
| 23 | 55 | David Ragan | SpongeBob Square Pants Aaron’s Dream Machine | 189.76 | 28.457 | 0.39 |
| 24 | 13 | Casey Mears | Squidward Tentacles Chevrolet SS | 189.18 | 28.545 | 0.478 |
| 25 | 51 | Justin Allgaier | Fraternal Order of Eagles | 189.61 | 28.48 | 0.413 |
| 26 | 9 | Sam Hornish Jr | Medallion Bank | 189.43 | 28.506 | 0.439 |
| 27 | 10 | Danica Patrick | GoDaddy | 189.35 | 28.519 | 0.452 |
| 28 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Dow | 189.16 | 28.547 | 0.48 |
| 29 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Dillon’s/SCOTT Products | 188.92 | 28.584 | 0.517 |
| 30 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Advocare Ford Fusion | 188.9 | 28.586 | 0.519 |
| 31 | 95 | Michael McDowell | WRL / Larry the Lobster | 188.9 | 28.586 | 0.519 |
| 32 | 33 | Ty Dillon | No. 33 Plankton Chevrolet SS | 188.82 | 28.599 | 0.532 |
| 33 | 26 | Jeb Burton | Maxim Fantasy Sports | 188.61 | 28.63 | 0.563 |
| 34 | 35 | Cole Whitt | TBD | 187.75 | 28.762 | 0.695 |
| 35 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | Dustless Blasting | 187.67 | 28.774 | 0.707 |
| 36 | 7 | Alex Bowman | Accell Construction | 187.56 | 28.791 | 0.724 |
| 37 | 23 | J.J. Yeley | Dr. Pepper “I’m a Pepper” | 186.45 | 28.962 | 0.895 |
| 38 | 38 | David Gilliland | MDS | 186.39 | 28.971 | 0.904 |
| 39 | 34 | Brett Moffitt | Dockside Logistics | 186.36 | 28.976 | 0.909 |
| 40 | 98 | Josh Wise | Phil Parsons Racing | 186.25 | 28.994 | 0.927 |
| 41 | 40 | Landon Cassill | Carsforsale.com | 185.14 | 29.167 | 1.1 |
| 42 | 32 | Joey Gase | TBA | 185.05 | 29.181 | 1.114 |
| 43 | 46 | Michael Annett | Allstate Peterbilt Group | 183.77 | 29.384 | 1.317 |
