Ryan Blaney has been on one this season, when it comes to qualifying in the NASCAR Cup Series. On Friday afternoon, the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse captured the pole for Saturday evening’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.
Starting Lineup: Cook Out 400 at Richmond
This marks Blaney’s second consecutive pole-winning qualifying run and his fourth of the season, which is the most poles Blaney has ever scored in a single season throughout his 11 full-time seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series.
On Friday, Blaney was as lucky as he was fast, as he was able to pick up a tremendous amount of cloud cover during his qualifying run, which allowed the track surface temperatures to decline significantly during his time on track.
“I appreciate the cloud,” Blaney quipped. “I really do; I got the benefit. I think only a handful of us got the benefit of the cloud. But, no, I mean, really good day. I thought our car was really decent in practice. And it’s nice to put a good lap together. Qualifying is always super tough here. You know, after running 50 or 60 laps in practice, you’re going to go out and run about three seconds faster than what your last lap just was. So, you just hope you hit it right.”
Blaney now has 12 more races this season to further cement 2026 as the greatest qualifying season of his Cup Series career. But in the meantime, he’ll shift his focus to Saturday evening’s Cook Out 400, where he’ll seek his third race win of the campaign.
“I’m excited for tomorrow. It’s going to be a fun night under the lights. Hopefully, we’ll have something for them,” Blaney said.
Blaney will be joined on the front row by Chase Briscoe, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, who cranked out a qualifying time 0.050 seconds off of Blaney’s pole-winning speed.
Josh Berry, who is seeking a ride for next season, will roll from the starting grid in the third position on Saturday evening, driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford.
Ty Gibbs, who scored his second career victory last weekend, will start alongside Berry in Row 2 at Richmond.
William Byron, Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, and Joey Logano rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Saturday night’s Cook Out 400.
Austin Dillon, the winner of this event in each of the last two seasons, will start from the 16th position.
The NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway is scheduled for Saturday, August 15, and will be televised on USA Network. Television coverage of the event will kick off at 7:00 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the radio broadcast of the event.
