Joe Logano earns Sprint Cup pole; Elliott wins Xfinity Series race

Joey Logano will start in the same position he did in the spring as he won the pole Friday and will lead the field to the green for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond global Raceway. “This is better than finding out at the end of the year but these are crunchy times”.

In 19 career Sprint Cup starts at Richmond global Raceway, Truex has one top-five and five top 10s. “Though we don’t have the pressure of making the Chase, we’re still going to approach Richmond with the same energy to win as we did in the first 25 races of the season”.

The scenario is more complicated if Richmond produces a unique victor.

Gordon, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer all have conditions that will guarantee their eligibility in the Chase.

Bowyer, Aric Almirola and Kasey Kahne can clinch a Chase berth without a win, but need help in the form of poor finishes from winless drivers ahead of them in points and/or a repeat victor. A new victor – other than himself – would eliminate him, a repeat victor will improve his position provided he finishes 28th or better, 29th with at least one lap led, or 30th with the most laps led.

The first thing you should when handicapping Saturday’s race is look at what happened at Phoenix in March, Richmond in April and New Hampshire in July.

Gordon, Newman and Bowyer all have Top 10 driver ratings at Richmond according to NASCAR’s statistics bureau. So Menard, like Bowyer, will have to sweat out the prospect of a unique victor on Saturday night.

Or Bowyer could simply control his own destiny by winning outright at the.75-mile track, where he has taken two checkered flags (2012, 2008).

David Ragan finished with the best spot of the four, earning the No. 5 starting spot. Since then, his average finish has trailed off to 17.2.

Darlington was the most-watched race this year since the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May (6.4 million). Every time we go there, we have to be as prepared and as ready to go out there and race and beat all of the competitors just like we did that one year. After Saturday’s race, we will learn the 16 drivers who made the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and the 25-plus who fell short.

Logano, who won the pole earlier this year at RIR, is already locked into the Chase but welcomed his chance to start P1 at the historic track none the less. “Sometimes the noise is so great that it really is kind of a pain for us to be on much more than that because we’re right down in the action”.

Starting third will be Logano’s teammate, Brad Keselowski.

Tony Stewart is down to one final shot. There are three bonus points in the Chase available for a victory up for grabs by these drivers, who account for 12 of the last 13 victories at the Richmond track.

Bowyer said any negotiations for his future plans were put on a brief hold as he works to make sure he qualifies for the 2015 Chase.