NASCAR Cup Series

The first 26 regular season NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races are in the books. After 400-laps/300-miles of racing at Richmond International Raceway, the 2016 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup field has now been set. Chevrolet will have eight drivers, the most of any manufacturer, competing for the championship – Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, and Jamie McMurray – will all vie to take the 2016 championship honors in the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion – Finished 4th (CHASE TOP SEED) WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT RESTART WITH KENSETH? “I just missed a shift and ruined Matt’s day. I didn’t hear what he had to say but I am sure it deserved to be said. I made a mistake and it is crappy for everyone. Hopefully he will accept the apology."

RICHMOND, Va. -- Denny Hamlin out-lasted a caution-heavy short track Saturday night in the capital of Virginia to add to his Chase stats.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Carl Edwards says if there's a reversal of roles from Richmond in April, he knows exactly what to expect.

Chris Buescher, the first full-time Sprint Cup driver for Texas since Bobby Labonte stopped racing full time in 2013, enters Richmond on the Chase bubble, with an 11 point cushion. Buescher’s surprise win at a rain-shortened Pocono event last month was the first win for a Texan since Bobby’s last win, the 2003 season finale at Homestead-Miami.

Denny Hamlin captured the pole for the 2016 Federated Auto Parts 400 after turning a lap of 122.344 mph. Hamlin, who was born in nearby Chesterfield, Virginia, took risks by going out first in the final two rounds and ended up beating the more conservative teams that waited until the last few minutes.

Kyle Larson set the pace for the Chevrolet SS drivers in knockout-style qualifying for the Federated Auto Parts 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway (RIR). Larson ran a lap of 22.079 seconds, 122.288 mph in his No. 42 Target Chevy SS to post his sixth top-10 start of 2016, and his third in six races at RIR. Larson, who secured a spot in the upcoming 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup with his first Cup career win at Michigan two weeks ago, will start on the outside front row for the 400-lap/300-mile race under the lights at Richmond.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND - IT LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD THE POLE, BUT THROUGH TURNS 3 AND 4 SEEMED TO KILL THE LAP. WHAT WAS GOING ON THERE? “Yeah, I was losing my drive off of (Turn) 4; but I’ll take a second here."

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Fusion – Qualified 12th “Our first run I kind of missed my lap a little bit but was good enough to get through. We ran an extra lap and probably didn’t need to. That kind of puts you behind the eight ball. You don’t want to run extra laps if you can help it."

When asked to rate his season on a scale of 1 to 10, Austin Dillon gave himself a 6.5/10. Speaking to the media earlier this afternoon at Richmond International Raceway, Dillon was asked to rate his season on a scale of 1 to 10.