Starting Lineup: NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond

Ryan Preece qualified on the pole for Saturday night's NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, with sights set on taking a short-track win to punch his ticket into the Playoffs.

Preece qualified with a time of 22.244 seconds around the 0.75-mile facility for his second career NASCAR Cup Series pole and his first since 2023. The previous pole occurred at the other Virginia short track on the NASCAR schedule, Martinsville Speedway, in 2023.

Tyler Reddick qualified second, while A.J. Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five.

After an incident in qualifying, Joey Logano's team repaired the car enough to attempt a qualifying run. However, there was still an evident right-front tire rub on the No. 22 Ford, forcing Logano to abort the qualifying attempt. With no time, Logano will start at the rear of the 38-car field.

Saturday's Cook Out 400 at Richmond takes the green flag at 7:30 p.m. ET. Coverage of the penultimate race of the NASCAR Cup Series regular season will be on USA Network, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-Photo credit: Gavin Baker, NKP for Ford Performance

Cook Out 400 Starting Lineup