Ryan Preece earns 2nd career pole position in hunt for NASCAR playoff spot at Richmond

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Ryan Preece will start from the pole position Saturday night at Richmond Raceway while trying to lock in a spot for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Preece earned his second career pole in 212 Cup starts with a lap at 121.381 mph around the 0.75-mile oval in his No. 60 Ford.

“What a great car,” said Preece, whose previous pole came at Martinsville Speedway in April 2023.

With two races remaining in the regular season, Preece still can make the playoffs through the points standings, but a win would secure an automatic berth.

Tyler Reddick, who can lock into the 16-driver playoff field on points with a strong result Saturday, qualified second. AJ Allmendinger will start third despite his No. 16 Chevrolet failing prerace inspection twice, which resulted in a loss of pit stall selection and the ejection of car chief Jaron Antley.

Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five in qualifying.

Sweeping the top three starting spots, Preece, Reddick and Allmendinger were joined by six other winless drivers qualifying in the top 15: Brad Keselowski (sixth), Alex Bowman (ninth), Michael McDowell (10th), Austin Dillon (11th), Chris Buescher (12th) and Carson Hocevar (15th). It’ll be a tougher slog to get to the front for Ty Gibbs (22nd) and Kyle Busch (28th).

Three-time Cup champion Joey Logano, a two-time winner at Richmond, will start last in the 38-car field after being unable to turn a lap in qualifying. Logano hit the Turn 4 wall in practice because of a right-front tire problem on his No. 22 Ford.

Starting position is critical at Richmond, which tends to have long green-flag stretches when it’s easy to fall a lap down. Last August’s race had only three caution flags, which is tied for the fewest on a short track since the 2022 debut of the Next Gen car.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing