I wish all of the races in NASCAR’s ‘regular season’ had as much anticipation as this one does - well okay, maybe the Daytona 500 does but nothing else.
Open Race Thread: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 | Richmond International Raceway
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There are so many story lines heading into this Chase; Who will make it and who will not is major point of fan interest at the moment.
I’m guessing Jeff Gordon will get into the Chase and I’m also guessing that he will lead a lap early in the race, especially since his already Chase locked teamate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., is starting on the pole with Gordon in the P2 position. We won’t talk about team orders here because there aren’t supposed to be team orders in racing, right?
Tell you what, if Earnhardt really does let Gordon lead a lap and he gets in the Chase because of it wouldn’t he feel pretty foolish if it was Gordon that ended up winning the Championship with him not too far behind in second place?
Let’s face it team orders are team orders and if the boss wants you to move over you move over, if the boss wants you to follow you follow - just ask Mike Skinner about team orders, from what I’ve heard he was told to stay behind teammate Dale Earnhardt in 1998 so he could win the Daytona 500.
Starting line-up is after the jump. See you on the other side!
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Diet Mountain Dew / National Guard | 127.023 | 21.256 | Leader |
| 2 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 126.981 | 21.263 | -0.007 |
| 3 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 126.910 | 21.275 | -0.019 |
| 4 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 126.808 | 21.292 | -0.036 |
| 5 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe's | 126.790 | 21.295 | -0.039 |
| 6 | 55 | Mark Martin | Toyota | Aaron's Dream Machine | 126.784 | 21.296 | -0.040 |
| 7 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Express | 126.671 | 21.315 | -0.059 |
| 8 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 126.600 | 21.327 | -0.071 |
| 9 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 126.553 | 21.335 | -0.079 |
| 10 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 126.547 | 21.336 | -0.080 |
| 11 | 22 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 126.410 | 21.359 | -0.103 |
| 12 | 83 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King | 126.139 | 21.405 | -0.149 |
| 13 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 126.080 | 21.415 | -0.159 |
| 14 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Quicken Loans | 126.074 | 21.416 | -0.160 |
| 15 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M's | 126.033 | 21.423 | -0.167 |
| 16 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Kellogg's | 126.033 | 21.423 | -0.167 |
| 17 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Best Buy | 125.974 | 21.433 | -0.177 |
| 18 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Smithfield | 125.939 | 21.439 | -0.183 |
| 19 | 98 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Phil Parsons Racing | 125.880 | 21.449 | -0.193 |
| 20 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 125.845 | 21.455 | -0.199 |
| 21 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Quaker State | 125.722 | 21.476 | -0.220 |
| 22 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Mac Tools | 125.692 | 21.481 | -0.225 |
| 23 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / Owens & Minor | 125.599 | 21.497 | -0.241 |
| 24 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 125.546 | 21.506 | -0.250 |
| 25 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Menards / Moen | 125.511 | 21.512 | -0.256 |
| 26 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Allstate | 125.389 | 21.533 | -0.277 |
| 27 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | Taco Bell | 125.389 | 21.533 | -0.277 |
| 28 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 125.371 | 21.536 | -0.280 |
| 29 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Bush's Baked Beans | 125.342 | 21.541 | -0.285 |
| 30 | 51 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 125.226 | 21.561 | -0.305 |
| 31 | 30 | David Stremme | Toyota | Inception Motorsports | 125.052 | 21.591 | -0.335 |
| 32 | 93 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 124.988 | 21.602 | -0.346 |
| 33 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 124.890 | 21.619 | -0.363 |
| 34 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves | 124.879 | 21.621 | -0.365 |
| 35 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | Mossy Oak / Pursuit Channel | 124.746 | 21.644 | -0.388 |
| 36 | 33 | Stephen Leicht* | Chevrolet | Special Ops OPSEC | 124.723 | 21.648 | -0.392 |
| 37 | 10 | David Reutimann | Chevrolet | Inc. 5000 / @TMone 6-peat | 124.706 | 21.651 | -0.395 |
| 38 | 23 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | North Texas Pipe | 124.539 | 21.680 | -0.424 |
| 39 | 32 | Ken Schrader | Ford | Federated Auto Parts | 124.407 | 21.703 | -0.447 |
| 40 | 119 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | Plinker Tactical | 124.315 | 21.719 | -0.463 |
| 41 | 26 | Josh Wise* | Ford | MDS Transport | 124.161 | 21.746 | -0.490 |
| 42 | 13 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 124.087 | 21.759 | -0.503 |
| 43 | 191 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | Plinker Tactical | 123.779 | 21.813 | -0.557 |
| Did Not Qualify | |||||||
| 44 | 37 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | Max Q Workforce | 123.468 | 21.868 | -0.612 |
| 45 | 0 | Mark Green | Toyota | Blue Ox | 120.962 | 22.321 | -1.065 |
+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie
* Denotes Rookie
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