​Ryan Blaney will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup race, piloting the No. 12 Team Penske Ford. This marks Blaney’s 14th career pole and his second of the 2026 season. His fastest lap in qualifying was 30.815 seconds, narrowly edging Penske teammate Joey Logano by 0.036 seconds; Logano will join Blaney on the front row in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford. While Blaney was pleased with the pole, he acknowledged there are still plenty of unknowns heading into the race after no practice this weekend. “How it’s going to react tomorrow in the race, in traffic, as the track changes, and as you get laps on the tires — all that,” Blaney said. “You hope you have a decent handle on it, but the goal today was to qualify as well as we could, and we did. I appreciate everyone on this No. 12 car for bringing me a fast machine. It’s great to have a Team Penske front row. That part is fantastic, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow to see what we have in the draft.”
Kyle Larson will start third, Austin Dillon fourth, and Daniel Suárez fifth. Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Austin Cindric, Ross Chastain, and Brad Keselowski filled out the remainder of the top ten. The day at EchoPark Speedway was hot and windy, and the gusting conditions contributed to a few balance issues. Chad Finchum, in the No. 66, spun as qualifying began, but that was the only notable incident. Several cars did run up the track in search of balance, yet the session remained focused on speed.
Penske dominance was evident in the early rounds, with all three Penske cars finishing 1-2-3 in Round 1. Chastain led Chevrolet in the early stage, while no Toyota drivers advanced into the second round, as teams prioritized race setup over qualifying pace. Most of Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing entries ended up in the back half of the field, with Denny Hamlin in 28th and Tyler Reddick in 31st.
In Round 2, Ryan Blaney and Joé Logano delivered strong runs to push Larson and the rest of the field. Dillon had been the last driver to advance to the second round, narrowly edging Erik Jones by a slim 0.002-second margin for the final transfer spot. In the final round, the tenth-fastest car from Round 1 went out first, with Dillon setting the early benchmark in the pole fight. Larson briefly topped the board, but Blaney and Logano soon surpassed him, sealing the front-row lockout for Penske.
The top 10 in the final order stood as follows: 1) Ryan Blaney, 2) Joé Logano, 3) Kyle Larson, 4) Austin Dillon, 5) Daniel Suárez, 6) Alex Bowman, 7) Chase Elliott, 8) Austin Cindric, 9) Ross Chastain, 10) Brad Keselowski. The rest of the lineup extended down to 38th, with Erik Jones, Shane van Gisbergen, Chris Buescher, Carson Hocevar, and more filling the trailing positions.
For more Motorsport.com coverage and analysis, stay tuned as teams prepare for the race under what promises to be a challenging, wind-driven evening at EchoPark Speedway. The stage is set for an eventful night of racing, with Blaney and Logano leading the charge from the front row and Penske’s strong performance shaping the tone for Sunday’s showdown.