September 2012 Pole Sitter: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr., 127.023, finished 14th

April 2013 Pole Sitter: #20-Matt Kenseth, 130.334mph, finished 7th

Track Qualifying Record: Matt Kenseth, April 2013, 130.334mph

Worst Starting Spot to Win: Clint Bowyer, May 2008, started 31st

Oldest Pole Winner: Mark Martin, 53 years, 3 months, 19 days, 4/27/2012

Youngest Pole Winner: Brian Vickers, 20 years, 6 months, 21 days, 5/15/2004

Fastest First Practice Speed: #2-Keselowski, 127.083 mph, scheduled to qualify 38th out of 44 drivers

Gordon wins Richmond pole: #24-Gordon won the pole for the Federated Auto Parts 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway with new track record speed of 130.599mph for his 1st pole of 2013 and 73rd of his career. Gordon breaks a tie with David Pearson, now winning a pole in 21 consecutive seasons, a new record.
#78-Busch is on the outside pole, followed by #2-Keselowski, #15-Bowyer, #20-Kenseth, #11-Hamlin, #1-McMurray, #22-Logano, #16-Biffle and #48-Smith/Johnson. Regan Smith practiced and qualified the #48 Chevy for Jimmie Johnson, who was back in Charlotte after the birth of his 2nd daughter. Johnson plans to run the race and will have to start the race at the rear of the field due to a driver change. The #48 team will be 10th to chose their pit stall.
Missing the race was: #19-Mike Bliss(9-6-2013)

Qualifying Fast Facts - Richmond:
#24-Jeff Gordon won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 56th Annual Federated Auto Parts 400 with a track qualifying record lap of 20.674 seconds, 130.599 mph. Matt Kenseth held the previous track record, set earlier this season in April.
This is his 73rd pole in 715 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, third on the all-time list. Gordon has now won at least one pole in 21 consecutive seasons, breaking a record he shared with David Pearson. This is his first pole and 13th top-10 start in 2013. This is his sixth pole in 42 races at Richmond International Raceway. This is the 14th track qualifying record set this season in the Gen-6 race car. #78-Kurt Busch (second) posted his 12th top-10 start of 2013 and his fourth in 26 races at Richmond International Raceway. This is Busch's eighth front-row start this season.
#2-Brad Keselowski (third) posted his sixth top-10 start at Richmond International Raceway. It is his 11th in 26 races this season.(NASCAR Statistics)(9-6-2013)

14 qualifying track records has been set so far 2013, Richmond twice
after 23 qualifying session, 3 were cancelled due to rain:
1) Bristol, #18-Kyle Busch, 129.535mph, March 15, 2013 - was 128.709 from March 2003
2) Martinsville, #48-Jimmie Johnson, 98.400, April 5, 2013 - was 98.083 from October 2005
3) Texas, #18-Kyle Busch, 196.299, April 12, 2013 - was 196.235 from November 2006
4) Kansas, #20-Matt Kenseth, 191.748, April 19, 2013 - was 191.360 from October 2012
5) Richmond, #20-Matt Kenseth, 130.334, April 26, 2013 - was 129.983 from May 2004
6) Darlington, #78-Kurt Busch, 181.918, May 10, 2013 - was 181.254 from May 2011
7) Charlotte, #11-Denny Hamlin, 195.624, May 23, 2013 - was 193.708 from Oct 2012
8) Kentucky, #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr, 183.636, June 28, 2013 - was 181.818 from June 2012
9) New Hampshire, #2-Brad Keselowski, 135.922, July 12, 2013, was 135.232 from July 2011
10) Indianapolis, #39-Ryan Newman, 187.531, July 27, 2013, was 186.293 from August 2004
11) Pocono, #48-Jimmie Johnson, 180.654, August 2, 2013, was 179.598 from June 2012
12) Watkins Glen, #9-Marcos Ambrose, 128.241, August 10, 2013, was 127.020 from August 2012
13) Michigan, #22-Joey Logano, 203.949, August 16, 2013; was 203.241mph from June 2012
14) Richmond(2nd time), #24-Jeff Gordon, 130.599, September 6, 2013 - was 130.334 from April 2013
(9-6-2013)

Coverage of Qualifying for the Federated Auto Parts 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway is scheduled for Friday, September 6, 2013 at 5:35pm/et.
TV: ESPN2 at 5:30pm/et
Radio: Motor Racing Network at motorracingnetwork.com.
Scheduled Qualifying TV Re-Air: none

Pole Progression: (who had the pole first, who got it next and who ended up with it)
#11-Hamlin, 1st out to qualify, 129.851mph, starts 6th
#78-Busch, 5th out, 130.334mph, starts 2nd [Ties track record]
#24-Gordon, 33rd out, 130.599mph, starts 1st [TRACK Record]

Happy Hour practice for the Federated Auto Parts 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway is over, after 45 scheduled minutes, the top-five, slowest and notes:
#24-Gordon 127.292
#18-Busch 126.606
#88-Earnhardt Jr. 126.310
#56-Truex Jr. 126.198
#31-Burton 126.162
Regan Smith was 22nd fastest in the #48 Chevy.
slowest: #33-Raines 119.090 & #32-Schrader 120.214
notes: Regan Smith is practicing the #48 for Johnson who is back in Charlotte after his wife gave birth this morning.
See fastest speeds, laps run, best 10 Consecutive lap average and more on the Richmond Happy Hour Practice Speeds (pdf).(9-6-2013)

First Friday practice for the Federated Auto Parts 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway is over, after 110 scheduled minutes, the top-five, slowest and notes:
#2-Keselowski 127.083
#15-Bowyer 125.821
#18-Busch 125.558
#20-Kenseth 125.209
#24-Gordon 125.133
slowest: #33-Raines 119.474 and #87-Nemechek 121.682
notes: Regan Smith is practicing the #48 for Johnson who is back in Charlotte after his wife gave birth this morning.
no rain in today's forecast, but this practice would set the lineup for the race if qualifying was to be cancelled.
See fastest speeds, laps run and more on the Richmond Practice 1 Speeds (pdf).(9-6-2013)

Race info at: Race Info Page

Event Entry List

Qualifying Rules

Past Champions Provisional

All Time Sprint Cup Pole Winners

NOTE: not doing semi-live qualifying anymore. With NASCAR.com and FoxSports having real time qualifying and hits for my qualifying pages way down due to the availability of the real-time qualifying found elsewhere, not worth the time.
Will still post my unique qualifying results here, to help explain how drivers make the race.
For real time qualifying, check out:
NASCAR.com
FoxSports

Qualifying order is back to the old way, a random draw. Someone from the team draws a bingo like ball just before the first practice of the event.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying rules for 2013: (except Daytona 500)
1) Starting positions 1 through 36 determined by the fastest qualifying speeds in descending order with the fast qualifier being first.
2) Starting positions 37 through 42 will be provisional starting positions that were not among the fastest 36 from qualifying. Provisional starting positions will be assigned to the highest ranked NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owners who are present at the Event and have entered the Event by the entry deadline and will be assigned in descending order until the six (6) provisional spots are filled.
3) If positions 37 - 42 are not filled by eligible car owners, the remaining positions will be assigned to car owners based on qualifying results.
NOTE: Once provisional starting positions have been assigned, the cars will be placed in the starting lineup by their qualifying speed in descending order with the fastest qualifying speed starting thirty-seventh.
4) If after starting positions 1 through 42 are assigned and there remains a car owner whose driver is the current or a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion who participated as a driver in the previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and who was entered in the Event for that owner in that car prior to the entry deadline, a 43rd provisional starting position, the "Champion's Provisional", will be assigned to that car owner. The most recent NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion driver not previously qualifying for positions 1 through 42 will be assigned the position. 5) If the 43rd provisional starting position is not filled by an eligible NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, it will be assigned to the next highest ranked car owner based on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner points.
6) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned according to current calendar year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner point standings.
7) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned to the car owners who have made the greatest number of qualifying attempts during the current season.
8) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned to cars in order (1,2,3&etc.) in which their numbers were selected in the qualifying draw.
NOTE: Until the completion of three races of the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, the final previous season NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner point standings will be used for determining the starting positions for the highest ranked car owners as described above.

Practice held but Qualifying canceled: If the first practice is run, but qualifying is unable to take place and is canceled, the procedure for how teams are chosen to fill the field:
1) Top 36 in owners points.
2) Past Series Champions not in the top 36 of owners points.
3) Race attempts, ties broken by owners points rank.
The starting order is then set by 1st practice speed.
If two or more teams have no attempts, the team highest in qualifying draw gets in the race.
Provisionals are not used and not charged to past series champions.

Practice AND qualifying are cancelled [rain, etc], the following procedure is used:
1) For the first three races of the current season the top 36 teams in the previous season owner points would make the race [team doesn't have to had run all the races in that season]. After the first three races of the current season, the top 36 teams in the current season owners points, would make the race.
2) Then any winning driver or team owner from 2012 or 2013, as well as any past champions, make the field.
3) Then, for the first three races of the current season, any of the top 36 teams in owner points for this year would make the field.
4) Then it goes to qualifying attempts this year, with ties broken by owner points.

More info on Past Champions Provisional and rules and limits on my 2013 Past Champions Provisional Page