RICHMOND, Va. – William Byron led the way for Hendrick Motorsports in Saturday's NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Richmond Raceway and earned a front row starting spot for Sunday’s race at the .75-mile track.
Byron's speed of 119.585 mph in the final round of knockout-style group qualifying placed the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 second on the starting grid. This is Byron’s first front row starting spot of the season and his best starting spot at Richmond in eight races.
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Chase Elliott will start 15th, Kyle Larson will start 21st and defending Richmond race winner Alex Bowman will start 28th. It should be noted that Bowman won last year’s race from deep in the field as he started 24th.
Larson posted the second-best 10-lap average during the group practice sessions in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. He won the September race at Richmond in 2017.
Ryan Blaney earned the pole position for Sunday’s 400-lap race.
On Sunday, Hendrick Motorsports will look to add to its short-track win total that sits at 54 – tops among all active teams in the NASCAR Cup Series. The organization will also look to score a series-best fourth win of the season in the seventh race of the 2022 campaign.
Catch the first short-track points-paying race of the season at Richmond on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.