Ryan Blaney earns second consecutive pole at Richmond Raceway

RICHMOND, Va. — Ryan Blaney catches a cloud and captures his second NASCAR Cup Series consecutive pole at Richmond Raceway.

This is his fourth pole of the season and the 16th of his career.

His fourth pole of the campaign levels him with Denny Hamlin for the most in the Cup Series in 2026.

Chase Briscoe earned his second front row start of the season as he will join Blaney on the front row from second.

Then, Josh Berry followed up his first top five of the season with second top five start in third. He will be joined on the second row by last weeks winner Ty Gibbs.

William Byron will round out the top five starters as the highest qualified Chevrolet. Ryan Preece will start five positions lower at Richmond than he did in 2025 from sixth.

Then its a pair of Toyotas who occupy the fourth row. Bubba Wallace will start seventh while Christopher Bell looks to shake his seven runners-up results at Richmond where he starts eighth.

Finally, the fifth row has drivers who will make their second consecutive top ten starts. Brad Keselowski will start ninth with Joey Logano in tenth.

Notable Starters and Storylines

Daniel Suarez was fastest in the lone practice session and will start 20th. Austin Cindric was among the top five in both single-lap and ten-lap average in practice but will start deep in the field from 23rd.

Tyler Reddick’s rough end to his regular season continues here at Richmond. He spun during the lone practice and qualified in a dismal 32nd.

Kyle Larson, who was second fastest in the ten-lap average, will join him in the back from 30th. The driver of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet will hold out hope of rain in either Richmond or Knoxville Iowa in order to catch the 65th Knoxville Nationals.

Finally, the only open entrant is Josh Bilicki in the Garage 66 No. 66. He and the other 36 entries all qualified into the Saturday night race.

Below is the full starting lineup for the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.

Starting Lineup

1. Ryan Blaney: 22.225
2. Chase Briscoe: 22.275
3. Josh Berry: 22.281
4. Ty Gibbs: 22.295
5. William Byron: 22.349
6. Ryan Preece: 22.435
7. Bubba Wallace: 22.450
8. Christopher Bell: 22.459
9. Brad Keselowski: 22.491
10. Joey Logano: 22.495
11. Connor Zilisch: 22.510
12. John Hunter Nemechek: 22.514
13. Chase Elliott: 22.524
14. Denny Hamlin: 22.532
15. AJ Allmendinger: 22.546
16. Austin Dillon: 22.575
17. Riley Herbst: 22.577
18. Ross Chastain: 22.579
19. Chris Buescher: 22.606
20. Daniel Suarez: 22.622
21. Erik Jones: 22.631
22. Carson Hocevar: 22.632
23. Austin Cindric: 22.655
24. Zane Smith: 22.665
25. Alex Bowman: 22.684
26. Michael McDowell: 22.690
27. Todd Gilliland: 22.712
28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 22.724
29. Cole Custer: 22.726
30. Kyle Larson: 22.742
31. Shane van Gisbergen: 22.773
32. Tyler Reddick: 22.776
33. Austin Hill(i): 22.780
34. Ty Dillon: 22.789
35. Noah Gragson: 22.858
36. Josh Bilicki: 23.302
37. Cody Ware: No Time