Both Logano and Berry clocked in at 30.979 seconds around the EchoPark Speedway. With current placement in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings serving as the tiebreaker, Logano. claimed the pole award for the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart.

Logano and Berry led a Ford lockout of the first four rows on the grid. Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric will start on the second row, while RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski start on row three.

HAMPTON, Ga. — Joey Logano will start on the pole for Saturday night’s Cup race at EchoPark Speedway, as Fords took the top eight spots in the 40-car field.

He claimed the top starting spot with a lap of 178.960 mph. It is Logano’s first pole of the season and 32nd of his Cup career.

For the second Atlanta race in a row, Team Penske and its affiliate, Wood Brothers Racing, grabbed the top four starting positions.

NASCAR’s Driver Ambassador Program rewards drivers for their promotion of the sport.

Josh Berry, who drives for the Wood Brothers, will start next to Logano on the front row. Berry posted the same lap time as Logano but Logano got the pole because ties are broken by car owner points. Logano’s car ranks higher than Berry’s car in the owner standings.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney will start third after a lap of 178.937 mph, and teammate Austin Cindric qualified fourth with a lap of 178.626 mph. Ryan Preece, who drives for RFK Racing, qualified fifth at 178.092.

He was followed by teammate Brad Keselowski (177.960 mph), Cole Custer (177.949) and Zane Smith (177.920). Alex Bowman (177.675) will start ninth as the top Chevrolet in qualifying. Pocono winner Chase Briscoe qualified 10th with a lap of 177.635 mph and is the top Toyota.

The green flag for Saturday’s race is scheduled to wave at 7:19 p.m. ET on TNT and TruTV

In pre-qualifying inspection at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta), most of the 40-car field made it through the process without issue. However, the same cannot be said for Hendrick Motorsports and the No. 5 Chevrolet of Kyle Larson.

Larson’s car failed inspection twice, finally passing on the third attempt. They narrowly avoided having to a serve a pass-through penalty, but the two inspection failures will still result in some penalties for the team.

First, Larson’s car chief Jesse Saunders has been ejected and will not be able to be present at the track for the remainder of the race weekend. They have also lose their pit stall selection, meaning they will get whatever stall is left after the rest of the field picks.

There were no other reported issues. However, qualifying was shortened to one round due to some weather that passed through the area and a lightning delay that pushed the session another 30 minutes from its scheduled start time. Larson will be the 36th driver out on track. Since the reconfiguration, Larson’s best qualifying effort at Atlanta is third. He timed in 17th for the race here earlier this year.

Hendrick Motorsports was also penalized following last weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity race at Pocono after an issue was found with the No. 17 HMS Chevrolet driven by Chase Elliott. The part-time entry was fined $40,000, docked some points and the crew chief was suspended for three races.

While Christopher Bell still looks like he’s getting ready for that pesky, third-period geometry test, his youthful countenance – don’t you dare say baby-face – is, as many new and veteran drivers alike have found out first-hand, merely a mask. 

Like Sun Tzu’s first lesson in The Art of War, Bell’s disarming smile and easy-going nature help deceive his adversaries, lulling them to think the JGR driver doesn’t pose a threat. Surely his success is just a fluke, right? But don’t be fooled into thinking anything other than the fact: the 30-year-old talent is every bit of a bona fide Championship contender. And with four wins already to his name in 2025, including three consecutive victories plus the All-Star race’s $1 million purse, he’s putting the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series on notice this year. 

Who is Christopher Bell? 

Born December 16, 1994, in Norman, Oklahoma, Bell felt an immediate magnetism to racing. At just three years old, he was captivated watching local speedsters burn rubber, and in two years, he was inquiring about technical racing elements – the kind of head-scratchers an older teenager or even an adult would ask, reports The Oklahoman. A year later, he was making a name for himself at I-44 Speedway, and before his 10th birthday, Bell was crisscrossing the Sooner State, fueled by an endless supply of his mom’s hotel nachos as he staked his claim on dirt tracks in Tulsa, Claremore, and Fort Cobb to name a few.

By the time he was 12, Bell had found his raison d’être and told his father that he planned to “race cars for a living.” Though easier said than done, getting his hands around the wheel of a midget car proved to be a lynchpin moment for Bell’s career because it paved the way for him to get recognized by Keith Kunz Motorsports. As his relationship crystalized with the Indiana-based outfit, he replaced current Cup Series superstar Kyle Larson, and his success there eventually led to him signing with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2015 to race in the Craftsman Truck Series. Two years later, Bell took home the grand prize, winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Christopher Bell’s Xfinity and Cup Series history

Following his second of three consecutive Chili Bowl series wins in 2018, Bell made the leap into competing full-time in the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing. After becoming the first driver to win three races in a row since Dale Earnhardt Jr. accomplished the feat in 1999, Bell went on to set the Xfinity Series rookie win record with six victories. Buoyed by strong performances, he made it to the championship but finished 11th, dropping him to fourth in points in his inaugural season.

Bell followed up that success by finishing third overall in the Xfinity Series in 2019, which provided Leavine Family Racing enough confidence to offer him a Cup Series car in 2020. His debut season yielded only two top-5 and seven top-10 finishes but, more importantly, he scored a new ride with Joe Gibbs Racing, driving the No. 20 for the former NFL Super Bowl-winning coach. That year, while still refining his calculated yet aggressive driving style, Bell became the first Oklahoma native to win in NASCAR’s top flight and just the 35th driver to score victories in all three main series.

No stranger to must-win situations, Bell’s heroics during the Charlotte Roval race in 2022 powered him to the Round of 8, and he advanced to the finale in Phoenix after another must-win victory at Martinsville. While he ultimately came up short in the high desert, he did finish third to mark a career best. 

Despite only scoring a pair of wins the subsequent year, Bell motored through the playoffs, narrowly winning at Homestead to punch his Championship 4 ticket. Still, a mechanical failure with his brakes derailed any dream of hosting the Bill France Cup at the end of the Phoenix finale that year. In 2024, he slightly improved by increasing his wins to four, but he again fell short of ultimate glory, finishing fifth in the overall standings. 

While “Must-Win” Bell is always a threat in the playoffs, his trifecta of consecutive wins this season and visible confidence after eclipsing Joey Logano in the final 10 laps of the 2025 All-Star race now have many wondering if this truly is the year he gets over the hump and the Christopher Bell Era begins.

What kind of car does Christopher Bell drive?

Christopher Bell currently drives the No. 20 Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) in the NASCAR Cup Series, and he competes part-time in the Xfinity Series, piloting the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for JGR and the No. 24 Toyota GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. 

Bell currently lives on the luxurious Lake Norman in Mooresville, North Carolina, with his wife of five years, Morgan. Though it’s unknown what sort of vehicular fleet awaits Bell when he returns from triumphing on the track, the Cup Series star does keep one very special ride inside his house: his winning car from his first Chili Bowl Championship.    

The NASCAR Cup Series makes it way to USA Network on August 3 with the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol. Coverage then shifts to NBC on August 23 for the Coke Zero Sugar 400. The remainder of the post-season will air on USA Network except for the final two playoff races and the NASCAR Cup Series Championship in Phoenix, Arizona, which will air on NBC. To find out more, please check local listings and the Cup Series schedule.

Given that we’re approaching the first Saturday night race of the Cup Series season, this semi-rare blast of Friday qualifying might’ve snuck up on you.