Kyle Larson is on the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series’ second race of the Round of 16 at Richmond Raceway.
The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports pilot came up just short in his bid to beat Denny Hamlin in the closing laps at Darlington Raceway last week.
Hamlin will start next to Larson on the front row, while Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. slots in third. Kurt Busch begins fourth and Kevin Harvick rounds out the top five.
The Team Penske stablemates of Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney line up sixth-eighth, respectively. Aric Almirola and Christopher Bell complete the top 10 starters.
Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Kyle Busch and Michael McDowell fill up positions 11-16 as the remaining playoff contenders.
As is the case at tracks without on-site qualifying, a metrics formula based on performance was used to set the lineup. Driver’s and car owner’s finishing position (weighted 25%), fastest lap from previous race (15%) and rank in team owner points (35%) were combined. Playoff drivers took the first 16 spots and whoever scored the lowest from the remaining drivers started 17th.
Cup Lineup for Richmond
The race airs on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
It was by the closest margin since timing and scoring went to thousandths of a second. The pole sitter really earned it this time.
Didn’t get the sarcasm?
Please change Headline word from Grabs to Given.
Why not “<insert driver name> on pole for <insert event name> when there is no qualifying?” It’s not like they turned a qualifying lap faster than anyone else.