Ryan Reed led the way in round one of qualifying and advanced all the way to the third and final round to start Friday evening’s race 12th at Richmond Raceway. Reed had a fast No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford and despite searching for forward turn was able to pit for adjustments and fresh Goodyear tires to work his way to a 12th-place finish.
The Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway is scheduled to begin on Saturday, September 9th. Live coverage can be found on NBC Sports Network, MRN, and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 at 7:30 p.m.
KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion (Qualified 3rd) “I thought we hit it pretty close in all three rounds. In practice we were a little loose and then made adjustments for qualifying. We ended up a little snug in all three runs. I ran a 90 and then that 08 popped in there. I was hoping to run another 90, that would have been good enough for pole. It is good to say the word pole on a qualifying day. We were close with our Ford and we will keep chipping away at it.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - What has Furniture Row been doing for Hurricane relief and what is Win One Give One? "Yeah, absolutely. Auto Owners has been an awesome partner for us. They've done a lot of cool promotions and a lot of cool things with our fans. This one is the Win One Give One and a fan is going to win $10,000 worth of Furniture Row stuff and they can kind of get whatever they want and then their community also is going to benefit."
ERIK JONES, No. 77 SiriusXM Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing - How frustrating was it to have to sit there for an hour at the start of happy hour, and how detrimental is that in terms of your effort this weekend?
"Well, yeah, it's frustrating for sure. You never want to have to miss out on practice. Is it that detrimental? Yeah, I mean, it hurts. For sure I think our last practice was pretty ‑‑ well, I wouldn't say it hurt, but it just didn't go the way we wanted it to."
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Hurricane Relief Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - What is your outlook for tomorrow? “Well, just trying to get a good run. Still obviously looking for that win this year. Haven't been able to get it. Our performance has been pretty good the past couple of months. We've had better finishes. Just so far behind from the beginning of the year, so we're kind of getting caught up in points. I think it's fairly close back there. Hopefully, we can get a good run, get in the playoffs, kind of get hot when we need to.”
Richmond Raceway announced today that they would be making contributions in Dale’s name to Blessings in a Backpack and FeedMore’s backpack program. They also presented him with a commemorative photo of his three wins at Richmond Raceway.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing - Why have you been so successful at Richmond Raceway? “Yeah, it's definitely been a good track. We finished really well. We ran really well the last couple times here. Really looking forward to it. It's been one that's kind of been circled for a while. We like trying to win this race before the Playoffs start, trying to get the momentum where I feel like we have momentum. Everything is going good. Cars are good. I don't see any reason why we can't contend this time around also.”
Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil/Red Cross Ford Fusion knows exactly what is on the line this weekend at Richmond. Returning to the site of his lone win of the season, Logano still needs a victory to qualify for the upcoming Playoffs. Logano spoke about what is at stake the next two days with media members Friday morning.
The late two-time Cup Series champion from Las Vegas, Nevada, is the 21st competitor to be named Most Popular Driver in the Cup division and the first to posthumously receive the title since Dale Earnhardt in 2001.
Elite Motorsports arrives at the historic In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip this weekend for the 2026 season-ending In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals armed with momentum and race-winning consistency.
