NASCAR heads to Kansas Speedway this weekend, and Joey Logano and Noah Gragson are in for a rare setback. The NASCAR Cup Series drivers will not start where they qualified after pre-race penalties sent them to the back of the 37-car field.
Logano originally qualified 15th, and Gragson posted a time good enough for 28th on the grid. Their starting spots placed them mid-pack at Kansas. But unapproved changes on their cars during inspection have triggered penalties.
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The No. 22 Team Penske driver, who faced power steering trouble during the practice session on Saturday, said that the team planned a steering rack change after steering wheel trouble. Logano also showed low speed and tire wear issues right away. He ranked 36th out of 37 cars on the speed chart after he had to pit during the session due to corded tire.
The 2026 AdventHealth 400 is set to begin at 2 pm ET, with live coverage on FOX and radio networks. Tyler Reddick secured the pole position with a fast lap of 29.142 seconds and a spot ahead of 23XI Racing team owner Denny Hamlin in second. Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson will start from the second row after posting identical times in qualifying.
Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, and Bubba Wallace will round out the top 10.
“It’s still close” – Joey Logano plans to restore points gap for ‘The Chase’ slowly
Joey Logano has five out of seven races outside the top 10 so far this season. He is ranked 12th in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings ahead of the Kansas race. But he is not too worried about the points gap. He said that he could still get to the top-5 in points for The Chase, and he planned to improve step by step to make up a 44-point deficit to Chase Elliott, who is ranked fifth.
“We’re 12th right now we gotta do some work to get there but we’re not that far away,” Joey Logano told former crew chief Todd Gordon.
Logano’s average so far this season is 15.6, and he has led just 111 laps so far. A race can close the gap in points, but he does not expect a sudden jump to the front.
It’s still close. You got to just be methodical about it, right? It takes time. It’s not going to all happen in one race, right? To say that we’re going to score that many more points on the 9 on one weekend, probably unrealistic,” Logano added.
Joey Logano’s best so far this year was third place at the season-opening Daytona 500 and at Martinsville Speedway last month.
Edited by Hitesh Nigam
