Cup Series playoff hopeful Preece roars to Richmond pole

Ryan Preece will lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green flag Saturday night at Richmond Raceway as he continues to seek a berth in the postseason.

Preece, the first driver below the cutline of the provisional playoff grid, won the pole with a lap of 121.381mph (22.244s) – his second career pole in the Cup Series and his first with RFK Racing.

“Being 37th or whatever we were in practice, our objective was just to see where the tire fall off went and try to manage that pace,” Preece said. “For me, going into qualifying and pushing the tire, pushing the grip level, and all those things, you just don’t know what you’re going to have going into Turn 1. As I’ve said over the past few months, just trust. Our communication as a team has grown. My trust level [where I drive it in there and know it's going to stick] has grown, and what I can tell you is when I drove it off into Turn 1, I know I got it all because the amount ... I drove it in there versus the grip she potentially had was definitely on the limit. 

“It felt really good and Derrick [Finley] made great adjustments, along with the entire No. 60 RFK team, and I’m just proud to have Kroger and Kleenex on the car this weekend.”

Tyler Reddick will join Preece on the front row (120.908mph).

AJ Allmendinger qualified third at 120.854mph, Denny Hamlin fourth at 120.822mph, Chase Elliott fifth at 120.746mph, Brad Keselowski sixth at 120.741mph, Bubba Wallace seventh at 120.649mph, Christopher Bell eighth at 120.622mph, Alex Bowman ninth at 120.552mph and Michael McDowell completed the top 10 at 120.503mph.

Austin Dillon, the defending race winner, qualified 11th. Chris Buescher, who holds the final spot on the provisional playoff grid ahead of his teammate Preece, qualified 12th.

Cup Series championship points leader William Byron wound up 14th. Kyle Busch will start 28th after being the fastest in practice.

Kyle Larson qualified 30th. Ross Chastain qualified 33rd.

Joey Logano attempted to make a qualifying run but aborted due to a heavy tire rub. Logano’s car was damaged after he hit the wall in practice after a right front tire went down. The team is making extensive repairs to Logano’s car. He will start last on the grid.

NEXT: The Cook Out 400 at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

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