Blaney's qualifying hot streak continues with Richmond NASCAR pole

Ryan Blaney will lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green flag for the second consecutive week Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.

Blaney was one of the final drivers to make a qualifying run and shot to the top of the leaderboard with a lap at 121.485 mph (22.225s). It is his fourth pole of the season.

“I appreciate the cloud. I really do,” Blaney said. “I got the benefit. I think only a handful of us got the benefit of the cloud. But a really good day. I thought our car was pretty decent in practice, and it’s nice to put a good lap together. Qualifying is always super tough here. After running 50 or 60 laps in practice, you’re going to go out and run about three seconds faster than what your last lap was. So, you hope you hit it right. The 12 car was great.

“I’m excited for tomorrow. It’s going to be a fun night under the lights. Hopefully we got something for them.”

Chase Briscoe qualified second at 121.212 mph. Josh Berry followed up his top five finish from last weekend by qualifying third at 121.179 mph.

Ty Gibbs qualified fourth at 121.103 mph, and William Byron completed the top five at 120.822 mph.

Ryan Preece qualified sixth at 120.348 mph, Bubba Wallace qualified seventh at 120.267 mph, and Christopher Bell qualified eighth at 120.219 mph. Brad Keselowski qualified ninth at 120.048 mph and Joey Logano rounded out the top 10 at 120.027 mph.

The points leader, Denny Hamlin, qualified 14th.

Austin Dillon qualified 16th. Dillon has won the last two Cup Series races at Richmond.

Tyler Reddick qualified 32nd.

Cody Ware did not make a qualifying attempt and will start last. Ware spun in practice because of a transaxle issue the team is addressing.

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

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