Ryan Blaney delivered a clutch performance in the closing minutes of qualifying on Friday, snatching the pole position for Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford laid down a 121.485 mph lap around the 0.75-mile oval to lead the 37-car field to green.
For Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion, the top spot represented a breakthrough after working through past qualifying hurdles alongside crew chief Jonathan Hassler. Adapting to the dramatic shift in speed between long practice runs and a single qualifying effort proved to be the winning formula.
“I wouldn’t kind of specify myself as a very good qualifier… I was doing the wrong things behind the wheel,” Blaney admitted. “Here, your last lap in practice to qualifying, you’re qualifying like three seconds faster than what you just ran, so mentally, how do you switch over to that and figure out how to do it in one lap? Jonathan has done a good job of just trying to work through how we get better.”
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe will share the front row, missing the pole by a razor-thin margin of just 0.050 seconds. The strong run marks Briscoe’s 13th top-10 start of the season. Josh Berry qualified third for Wood Brothers Racing, while recent Iowa winner Ty Gibbs and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron rounded out the top five.
Farther back in the field, several heavy hitters have work to do. Cup Series points leader Denny Hamlin—a five-time winner at his home track—could only manage the 14th-fastest time. Austin Dillon starts 16th as he attempts to make history by joining Hall of Famers Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, and David Pearson as the only drivers to win three consecutive Richmond races.
Earlier in the day, Spire Motorsports’ Daniel Suárez set the benchmark in practice with a lap of 117.961 mph, narrowly edging Erik Jones and Austin Cindric. While Suárez held the single-lap speed, Cindric showed impressive long-run stability by topping the 10- and 20-lap averages. Blaney dominated the extended 25- and 30-lap runs, proving his No. 12 Ford has both the single-lap pace and the race trim to contend for the win.
Coverage for Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 begins at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Cook Out 400 Starting Lineup
Qualifying: August 14, 2026; Race: August 15, 2026
|
POSITION
|
BEST SPEED
|
BEST TIME
|
BEHIND
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
R. Blaney #12
|
121.485
|
22.225
|
Winner
|
|
2 |
C. Briscoe #19
|
121.212
|
22.275
|
0.050
|
|
3 |
J. Berry #21
|
121.179
|
22.281
|
0.056
|
|
4 |
T. Gibbs #54
|
121.103
|
22.295
|
0.070
|
|
5 |
W. Byron #24
|
120.822
|
22.347
|
0.122
|
|
6 |
R. Preece #60
|
120.348
|
22.435
|
0.210
|
|
7 |
B. Wallace #23
|
120.267
|
22.450
|
0.225
|
|
8 |
C. Bell #20
|
120.219
|
22.459
|
0.234
|
|
9 |
B. Keselowski #6
|
120.048
|
22.491
|
0.266
|
|
10 |
J. Logano #22
|
120.027
|
22.495
|
0.270
|
|
11 |
C. Zilisch #88
|
119.947
|
22.510
|
0.285
|
|
12 |
J. Nemechek #42
|
119.925
|
22.514
|
0.289
|
|
13 |
C. Elliott #9
|
119.872
|
22.524
|
0.299
|
|
14 |
D. Hamlin #11
|
119.830
|
22.532
|
0.307
|
|
15 |
A. Allmendinger #16
|
119.755
|
22.546
|
0.321
|
|
16 |
A. Dillon #3
|
119.601
|
22.575
|
0.350
|
|
17 |
R. Herbst #35
|
119.591
|
22.577
|
0.352
|
|
18 |
R. Chastain #1
|
119.580
|
22.579
|
0.354
|
|
19 |
C. Buescher #17
|
119.437
|
22.606
|
0.381
|
|
20 |
D. Suárez #7
|
119.353
|
22.622
|
0.397
|
|
21 |
E. Jones #43
|
119.305
|
22.631
|
0.406
|
|
22 |
C. Hocevar #77
|
119.300
|
22.632
|
0.407
|
|
23 |
A. Cindric #2
|
119.179
|
22.655
|
0.430
|
|
24 |
Z. Smith #38
|
119.126
|
22.665
|
0.440
|
|
25 |
A. Bowman #48
|
119.027
|
22.684
|
0.459
|
|
26 |
M. McDowell #71
|
118.995
|
22.690
|
0.465
|
|
27 |
T. Gilliland #34
|
118.880
|
22.712
|
0.487
|
|
28 |
R. Stenhouse Jr #47
|
118.817
|
22.724
|
0.499
|
|
29 |
C. Custer #41
|
118.807
|
22.726
|
0.501
|
|
30 |
K. Larson #5
|
118.723
|
22.742
|
0.517
|
|
31 |
S. Van Gisbergen #97
|
118.561
|
22.773
|
0.548
|
|
32 |
T. Reddick #45
|
118.546
|
22.776
|
0.551
|
|
33 |
A. Hill #33
|
118.525
|
22.780
|
0.555
|
|
34 |
T. Dillon #10
|
118.478
|
22.789
|
0.564
|
|
35 |
N. Gragson #4
|
118.121
|
22.858
|
0.633
|
|
36 |
J. Bilicki #66
|
115.870
|
23.302
|
1.077
|
