Richmond Raceway is only on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule once this year, something that, aside from 2020's pandemic-restriction-modified calendar, hadn't been true since 1958.
This year's Cook Out 400 is the penultimate race of the regular season. Following this 400-lap race around the four-turn, 0.75-mile (1.207-kilometer) Richmond, Virginia short track, only next Saturday night's race at Daytona International Speedway will remain before the four-round, 10-race playoffs are scheduled to begin.
Friday's qualifying session for Saturday night's race at Richmond is set to use the standard short track qualifying format. Each driver is set to make a two-lap qualifying attempt, and only the faster of the two laps counts. Those 38 speeds are then simply compiled to determine the full 38-car starting lineup.
There is no second round shootout for the pole position like there was for NASCAR's most recent visit to Richmond last August, and while there are technically still qualifying "groups", those groups mean absolutely nothing other than the qualifying order from No. 1 to No. 38. As such, the are no longer any row-by-row lane designations based on group.
The qualifying order was determined by the two-variable formula which replaced the old four-variable formula that was used from 2020 to 2024. A full breakdown of the current metric can be found here.
Follow along with our qualifying updates from Richmond.
NASCAR at Richmond: Full Cook Out 400 starting lineup
1st - Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
2nd - Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
3rd - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
4th - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
5th - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
6th - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
7th - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
8th - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
9th - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
10th - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
11th - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
12th - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
13th - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
14th - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
15th - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
16th - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
17th - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
18th - Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
19th - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
20th - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
21st - Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
22nd - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
23rd - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
24th - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
25th - Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
26th - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
27th - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
28th - Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
29th - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
30th - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
31st - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
32nd - Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota
33rd - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
34th - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
35th - Jesse Love, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
36th - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
37th - Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
38th - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
USA Network's live coverage of the Cook Out 400 is set to be shown live beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET this Saturday, August 16. If you have not yet had the chance to begin a free trial of FuboTV, do so today and don't miss any of the night race short track action this weekend!