The fastest lap posted by a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series car/driver at Richmond Raceway Friday through two practice sessions and qualifying was a 21.229-second/127.185 mph lap from Brad Keselowski late in the 38-driver qualifying session Friday evening. It was the only lap of the day above 127 mph, giving him the pole for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400. It's his third pole of the 2019 season and his second-career pole at Richmond.
"Richmond is one of those tracks that, practice, the track has so much different grip than it does in qualifying,” Keselowski said. "I’m not sure it’s a great indicator to do those things and maybe even fall behind doing that, because you adjust to conditions that aren’t realistic when qualifying does come. Regardless of that, we had an amazing lap. The car drove very, very well, and we’ve had exceptional short-run speed here the last few times and again this weekend, but then, the races seem to be playing out with long runs, so if we can just hold on with the short-run speed we have on the long runs, we’ll be in good shape for this weekend.”
Kevin Harvick was second to Keselowski in qualifying, giving Ford a front-row sweep of the starting grid.
"It’s really just about protecting yourself at this point, and starting in the front of the field sets you up good to score some points in stage one and get a good pit stall selection,” Harvick said. "It gets everything going, and it’s really survive and advance, and the more points that you can gather, the better off that you’re gonna be. If we can put ourselves in a good position to get through the weekend and make the Roval a lot different to race, just because of the fact that you know where you stand, hopefully, you can put yourself in a position where you know where you stand when you leave here.”
Toyota, although the manufacturer has yet to win a pole 28 races into the season, was the class of the qualifying field early. Martin Truex Jr. went out ninth in the qualifying order and claimed the provisional pole. At that time, Toyota drivers were in the top-three positions with Matt DiBenedetto in second and Erik Jones in third. Truex eventually was knocked from the top spot by another Toyota driver, Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch.
By the time Busch became the provisional pole sitter, Truex, DiBenedetto and Jones had been separated on the speed chart by other drivers. Busch was still as close to the front in the second row in fourth at the end of qualifying, next to third-place starter Chase Elliott.
“We qualified second here a couple of years ago and ran really bad in the race, so I tend to not get excited over qualifying efforts at this place,” Elliott said. “So, hopefully, our car drives good and we can keep the back tires on it and stay turning and try to have good execution on pit road and, yeah, if the car drives good, and we don’t mess up, and I don’t mess up and have good pit stops, we’ll have a shot at it.”
Truex, DiBenedetto and Jones, though, dropped to eighth, 12th and 16th, respectively.
Playoff drivers were in the top-nine positions at the end of qualifying for the second playoff race. While his Team Penske teammate Keselowski claimed the pole, reigning series champion Joey Logano was 28th in qualifying, lowest among the 16 playoff drivers.
“I thought we were good in race trim, actually,” Logano said. ”I thought our speed is good as anybody, so that’s encouraging. We just have to get through the field, which if I stay patient, we should be okay.”
Jimmie Johnson was the fastest non-playoff drivers in qualifying, rounding out the top-10. Other drivers in the top-10 included Clint Bowyer in fifth, Denny Hamlin sixth, Aric Almirola seventh, and Kurt Busch ninth.
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