RICHMOND, Va. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images North America photo —
Haven’t we seen this story before?
The answer is yes — only in reverse order.
After Denny Hamlin outran Joey Logano to capture the Coors Light Pole for the NASCAR XFINITY Series event later tonight at Richmond International Raceway, Logano did the same to Hamlin when it really mattered — in Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the “big show”, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 on Saturday night (7 p.m. ET live on FOX).
Logano’s lap of 21.248 seconds (127.071 mph) was the only one of the 12 drivers in the final round to eclipse the 127-mph barrier — good enough for his 11th career Sprint Cup pole and third of 2015.
“We have a fast Shell-Pennzoil Ford,” Logano said after securing top qualifying honors. “I thought we had a shot at the pole [all along], but in the first run it wasn’t very good. We made some adjustments, and didn’t really make much ground on it in the second round so we swung for the fence. When you’re sitting 11th on the board [going into the final round], you only have one spot to lose so we swung at it and [the car] turned and off she went!”
“This is not normal for us — normally we’re really fast in the first round and then it’s hard for us to stay that fast throughout it — but my guys did a great job keeping it fast and getting it faster.”
Logano said the final round was tough, not just on him, but all the way around as the tires wore out and lost grip from round to round — but that he enjoyed the challenge.
“It’s fun because you go out there and run all these laps, and my lap didn’t actually feel all that good because [we had] seven or eight laps on [our] tires and the car was sliding around a lot. It’s funny that pole-sitting car is sliding around all over the place because everyone’s on old tires out there.”
Hamlin, who topped the second qualifying round, will start on the outside of the front row at a track he has won at twice prior — in 2009 and 2010.
“I thought after the second round and the times that were set, that we were sitting in really good position to get a pole,” Hamlin said. “Our car just lost too much grip that last run, but I do feel like we have a car that can race for a win tomorrow night. We’ll just [try to] execute and see if we can’t get this FedEx Camry in victory lane.”
Kurt Busch continued his resurgent start to the 2015 season with a third place qualifying effort, and Chevrolet comrade A.J. Allmendinger posted the top effort for the Earnhardt-Childress engine department by qualifying fourth.
Defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick completed the top five, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray and David Ragan.
Jeff Gordon and Kyle Larson completed the 12 drivers who advanced to the final round of knockout qualifying.
Tony Stewart was the first car who failed to advance to the final round in 13th, and other notables outside the top 12 included Brett Moffitt (14th) and Chase Elliott (16th), who will make his second career Sprint Cup start this weekend in the No. 25 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.
“I’m just happy we made it in the show,” Elliott smiled after climbing from his car. “You make it [as far as we did] and you get greedy and you want to make it in that top twelve. We gave it a good effort and we picked up our second time out, but it wasn’t enough [to get into the final round.]”
“I feel like this is a really, really strong qualifying effort for my second race. I’m excited just to be in the show, and hopefully we can make the right adjustments overnight, improve upon where we’re starting and try to move forward.”
In a stellar display for the underdog teams, Landon Cassill put Hillman-Smith Motorsports past the first cut when he went 14th-quick in the opening round — and ultimately earned the 19th spot on the grid by virtue of his second round effort.
Hendrick Motorsports had a disastrous opening qualifying round, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. timing his way into the field in 26th but failing to advance to round two — and former Richmond winners Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne both qualified outside the top 35, in 36th and 40th positions respectively.
“[I’m] really puzzled,” Johnson said after climbing from his car. “Scratching my head big time right now — we had high hopes coming into this but we’ll try and figure it out for tomorrow and go from there.”
Jeb Burton and Brendan Gaughan were the two drivers who failed to qualify for Saturday night’s event, while the two cars lowest in owner points and without provisionals to fall back on — Elliott and Jeff Green (33rd) timed their respective ways into the field.
RESULTS: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series; Coors Light Pole Qualifying; Toyota Owners 400; Richmond International Raceway; April 24, 2015
- Joey Logano
- Denny Hamlin
- Kurt Busch
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Kevin Harvick
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Brad Keselowski
- Matt Kenseth
- Jamie McMurray
- David Ragan
- Jeff Gordon
- Kyle Larson
- Tony Stewart
- Brett Moffitt
- Paul Menard
- Chase Elliott
- Clint Bowyer
- Carl Edwards
- Landon Cassill
- Austin Dillon
- Danica Patrick
- Justin Allgaier
- Ryan Newman
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Casey Mears
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Aric Almirola
- Josh Wise
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- David Gilliland
- Cole Whitt
- Greg Biffle
- Jeff Green
- Trevor Bayne
- Joey Gase
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Michael Annett
- J.J. Yeley
- Kasey Kahne
- Alex Bowman
- Alex Kennedy
- Reed Sorenson
DNQ: Jeb Burton, Brendan Gaughan
