NASCAR At Richmond International Raceway: Kyle Busch Takes Checkered Flag

Oh yeah. This was gonna be good.

Forget UFC 129. NASCAR was going to have UFC 130 right in the Richmond International Raceway garage.

Juan Pablo Montoya picked up his second pole of the season on Friday afternoon, leading the Richmond International Raceway Sprint Cup Series qualifying session with a lap of 128.639 mph.

The Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver will pace the starting lineup for Saturday night’s Matthew and Daniel Hansen 400 at Richmond, just ahead of Furniture Row Racing’s Regan Smith (128.382 mph).

Everything is looking up for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his fans these days.

Earnhardt Jr. was the fastest in a two-hour Sprint Cup Series practice on Friday afternoon at Richmond International Raceway, kicking off a promising weekend at a track where NASCAR’s most popular driver has seen much past success.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. enters the Richmond International Raceway weekend sitting third in Sprint Cup Series points and already has two top-five finishes – one less than he had for the entire 2010 season.

But despite his consistent start to the year, Earnhardt Jr. hasn’t seemed overly impressed with his results so far – even if fans and media are. Why not?

Kevin Harvick wasn’t doing much on Thursday night and was already at Richmond International Raceway, so he figured he’d watch the track’s racing doubleheader – from the grandstands.

Harvick and a few buddies found some seats in Richmond’s Turn 3, then witnessed Darrell Wallace Jr. win the K&N East Series race and Denny Hamlin win the Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown charity race.