Saturday was originally scheduled to be a super-busy day of on-track activity at Richmond Raceway. That was until Mother Nature decided to interfere with the three-quarter-mile facility.
Just before 10:30 AM ET, NASCAR officially determined that practice and qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series wouldn’t be able to take place on Saturday, meaning drivers and teams will go into Sunday’s 400-mile contest without an idea of their vehicle’s capabilities.
Alex Bowman will start on the pole for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway, by virtue of the rulebook setting the starting grid. Bowman, who leads the NASCAR Cup Series points, will start alongside fellow Chevrolet driver Kyle Busch.
For Bowman, the difference in starting position for Sunday’s race comes as a result of the penalties to Hendrick Motorsports that were amended mid-week, which irradiated any points implications to the No. 48 team.
William Byron also benefitted from the mid-week decision by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel and will start Sunday’s race in third place, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro. Ross Chastain will start from fourth, with Tyler Reddick rounding out the top five.
Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Kyle Larson, and Kevin Harvick will round out the top-10 starters for the event.
As a result of NASCAR’s performance-based metric, several heavy hitters will be starting outside of the top-10, in part because of a poor finish at Circuit of The Americas last weekend.
Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex, Jr. will start 11th and 12th. Ryan Blaney will start from 17th, with Joey Logano 18th, Christopher Bell 21st, Brad Keselowski 24th, Josh Berry 30th, and Aric Almirola 32nd.
2023 NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Qualifying Results
