Matt Kenseth wins pole at Richmond
Joe Gibbs Racing is well-positioned to go for four wins in a row at Richmond International Raceway.
Matt Kenseth will start first for Sunday’s race at the 0.75-mile track. Kenseth, who won the 2015 fall race at Richmond, is searching for his first win of the year amidst a slow start. He enters the race 20th in the points standings and has never finished any lower than 15th in the points throughout his Cup Series career.
“Hopefully this week we can start up front, stay up front, hopefully collect some of the stage points but most importantly hopefully we’re in the mix for the win at the end of the day,” Kenseth said.
His JGR teammate Kyle Busch starts second while Daniel Suarez also made the final round of qualifying and starts 11th. Martin Truex Jr., who drives for JGR satellite team Furniture Row Racing, qualified third behind Ryan Blaney.
Busch was in position to win the 2016 spring race at Richmond before he was bumped out of the way on the final lap by former teammate Carl Edwards.
It’s the second-career pole for Kenseth at Richmond. He started first in the 2013 spring race and finished ninth.
Here’s the complete lineup for Sunday’s race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start 12th in his first race since announcing his retirement from the Cup Series effective at the end of the season. Austin Dillon made a cursory qualifying lap after a NASCAR penalty. NASCAR announced Friday morning that Dillon would start last no matter what because his car failed pre-race technical inspection at Bristol five times.
The NASCAR penalty announcement came shortly after Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing team announced that crew chief Slugger Labbe was working at the shop over the weekend and would be replaced by team technical director Sammy Johns. It doesn’t take much dot-connecting to believe the inspection failures are tied to Labbe’s absence from the track.
1. Matt Kenseth
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Martin Truex Jr.
4. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
5. Joey Logano
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Kyle Busch
8. Clint Bowyer
9. Kurt Busch
10. Jamie McMurray
11. Daniel Suarez
12. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
13. Ryan Newman
14. Chase Elliott
15. Brad Keselowski
16. Denny Hamlin
17. Jimmie Johnson
18. Kyle Larson
19. Kasey Kahne
20. Erik Jones
21. Danica Patrick
22. AJ Allmendinger
23. Chris Buescher
24. Ty Dillon
25. Aric Almirola
26. Paul Menard
27. Michael McDowell
28. Landon Cassill
29. Trevor Bayne
30. David Ragan
31. Gray Gaulding
32. Matt DiBenedetto
33. Reed Sorenson
34. Corey LaJoie
35. Jeffrey Earnhardt
36. Cole Whitt
37. Timmy Hill
38. Austin Dillon
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
