NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Preece. Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Ryan Preece wins pole for Cook Out 400 at Richmond

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Aug 15, 2025 6:45 PM ET

In the best qualifying performance of his NASCAR Cup Series career, Ryan Preece laid down a lap of 22.244 seconds and scored the pole for Saturday's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.

Preece will go into Saturday's race 34 points below the playoff cut line, but now has an excellent shot to win his way into the postseason. The pole is the second of Preece's career and his first since Martinsville in April 2023.

Preece was 37th-fastest of 38 cars in practice, but the No. 60 team found speed in qualifying trim.

"That was great adjustments by (crew chief) Derrick Finley," Preece told truTV. "What a race car."

A short-track racer in his element. @RyanPreece_ wins the #BuschLightPole at @RichmondRaceway! pic.twitter.com/WwKqjDYLgT
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 15, 2025

Tyler Reddick will join Preece on the front row, with AJ Allmendinger, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott rounding out the top five. Brad Keselowski, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell completed the top-10.

Other notable qualifying efforts included Chris Buescher, who sits 34 points above Preece for the 16th and final provisional playoff spot, in 12th, William Byron in 14th, Chase Briscoe in 19th, Kyle Busch in 28th and Kyle Larson in 30th.

Cody Ware was the slowest driver of the 38 that took time, while Joey Logano was unable to make a lap after his No. 22 Ford sustained damage in practice.

The Cook Out 400 will go green shortly after 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, with coverage on USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Pre-race coverage will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET on MRN and at 7:00 p.m. ET on USA Network.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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