Ryan Blaney won the Busch Light Pole Award for the 2026 Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia, on Friday, August 14.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through an on-track qualifying session that consisted of a single-car, two-lap qualifying format. During the session, each of the 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots cycled around Richmond twice to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the fastest lap earned pole position.
During the session, Blaney, who posted the 26th-fastest lap during practice that occurred on Friday prior to qualifying, utilized his two-lap qualifying session to post his fastest lap at 121.485 mph in 22.225 seconds. The lap was enough for the 2023 Cup Series champion from High Point, North Carolina, and his No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse team to qualify in the top-starting spot for a Cup event for a third time over the past five events.
With the pole, Blaney, who is ranked in third place in the 2026 standings and capitalized on the cloudy conditions that enabled him to secure the pole, secured his 16th NASCAR Cup Series career pole for his 402nd series start, his second at Richmond and his fifth on a short track venue as he strives to contend for his third Cup victory this season during Saturday night’s main event.
“I appreciate the cloud,” Blaney said. “I think a handful of us got the benefit of the cloud. A really good day. I thought our car was pretty decent in practice and it’s nice to put a good lap together. Qualifying’s always super tough here. After running 50 or 60 laps in practice here, you’re going to go out and run about three seconds faster than what your last lap just was. You just hope you hit it right. The No. 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.”
Blaney will share the front row with Chase Briscoe, the latter of whom posted his fastest lap at 121.212 mph in 22.275 to grab the second-place starting spot. Josh Berry, Ty Gibbs and William Byron will start in the top-five, respectively, with Gibbs striving for his second consecutive victory after he won last weekend’s Cup event at Iowa Speedway.
Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano completed the top-10 starting grid, respectively. Notably, points leader Denny Hamlin will start in 14th place while Austin Dillon, who is striving for a third consecutive Cup victory at Richmond, will start in 16th place.
With 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots, all made the main event.
Richmond – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Ryan Blaney, 121.485 mph, 22.225 seconds
- Chase Briscoe, 121.212 mph, 22.275 seconds
- Josh Berry, 121.179 mph, 22.281 seconds
- Ty Gibbs, 121.103 mph, 22.295 seconds
- William Byron, 120.822 mph, 22.347 seconds
- Ryan Preece, 120.348 mph, 22.435 seconds
- Bubba Wallace, 120.267 mph, 22.450 seconds
- Christopher Bell, 120.219 mph, 22.459 seconds
- Brad Keselowski, 120.048 mph, 22.491 seconds
- Joey Logano, 120.027 mph, 22.495 seconds
- Connor Zilisch, 119.947 mph, 22.510 seconds
- John Hunter Nemechek, 119.925 mph, 22.514 seconds
- Chase Elliott, 119.872 mph, 22.524 seconds
- Denny Hamlin, 119.830 mph, 22.532 seconds
- AJ Allmendinger, 119.755 mph, 22.546 seconds
- Austin Dillon, 119.601 mph, 22.575 seconds
- Riley Herbst, 119.591 mph, 22.577 seconds
- Ross Chastain, 119.580 mph, 22.579 seconds
- Chris Buescher, 119.437 mph, 22.606 seconds
- Daniel Suarez, 119.353 mph, 22.622 seconds
- Erik Jones, 119.305 mph, 22.631 seconds
- Carson Hocevar, 119.300 mph, 22.632 seconds
- Austin Cindric, 119.179 mph, 22.655 seconds
- Zane Smith, 119.126 mph, 22.665 seconds
- Alex Bowman, 119.027 mph, 22.684 seconds
- Michael McDowell, 118.995 mph, 22.690 seconds
- Todd Gilliland, 118.880 mph, 22.712 seconds
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 118.817 mph, 22.724 seconds
- Cole Custer, 118.807 mph, 22.726 seconds
- Kyle Larson, 118.723 mph, 22.742 seconds
- Shane van Gisbergen, 118.561 mph, 22.773 seconds
- Tyler Reddick, 118.546 mph, 22.776 seconds
- Austin Hill, 118.525 mph, 22.780 seconds
- Ty Dillon, 118.478 mph, 22.789 seconds
- Noah Gragson, 118.121 mph, 22.858 seconds
- Josh Bilicki, 115.870 mph, 23.302 seconds
- Cody Ware, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
The 2026 Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway is scheduled to occur on Saturday, August 15, at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
