NASCAR Cup Series at Richmond starting lineup: Ryan Blaney wins third pole of 2022

Ryan Blaney has won the pole for the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway, posting a lap of 22.541 (119.782 MPH) in the final round of qualifying on Saturday to win his Cup Series-leading third pole of 2022. Blaney had previously qualified on the pole at Phoenix Raceway as well as last weekend at Circuit of the Americas.

The top speeds in qualifying were generally at or under 22.5, with several drivers exceeding that mark by as many as two tenths in Groups A and B of the qualifying session. However, times fell somewhat off in the final round of qualifying, allowing Blaney to set his fast lap over William Byron and then hold on for the rest of the session.

Multiple teams had issues in pre-qualifying inspection on Friday, with the two worst offenders being the Kaulig Racing No. 31 team and the NY Racing No. 44 team. Both teams failed inspection three times, meaning that drivers Justin Haley and Greg Biffle were disallowed from making a qualifying attempt and will have to serve a pass-through penalty after the start of Sunday’s race.

In addition, five other drivers — Austin Dillon, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — had their teams fail tech inspection two times. Those teams lost pit selection and also had a crew member ejected from the weekend.

Toyota Owners 400 starting lineup

1. #12 – Ryan Blaney
2. #24 – William Byron
3. #18 – Kyle Busch
4. #14 – Chase Briscoe
5. #43 – Erik Jones
6. #19 – Martin Truex Jr.
7. #4 – Kevin Harvick
8. #1 – Ross Chastain
9. #20 – Christopher Bell
10. #10 – Aric Almirola
11. #22 – Joey Logano
12. #41 – Cole Custer
13. #11 – Denny Hamlin
14. #99 – Daniel Suarez
15. #9 – Chase Elliott
16. #8 – Tyler Reddick
17. #21 – Harrison Burton (R)
18. #17 – Chris Buescher
19. #6 – Brad Keselowski
20. #2 – Austin Cindric (R)
21. #5 – Kyle Larson
22. #38 – Todd Gilliland (R)
23. #77 – Landon Cassill
24. #34 – Michael McDowell
25. #3 – Austin Dillon
26. #16 – AJ Allmendinger
27. #45 – Kurt Busch
28. #48 – Alex Bowman
29. #23 – Bubba Wallace
30. #42 – Ty Dillon
31. #7 – Corey LaJoie
32. #47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
33. #51 – Cody Ware
34. #78 – BJ McLeod
35. #15 – JJ Yeley
36. #31 – Justin Haley
37. #44 – Greg Biffle