RICHMOND, Va. – (April 24, 2015) – Kurt Busch led the way for Team Chevy in his No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) during qualifying for Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race. His lap of 21.326 seconds (126.606 mph) was fast enough to earn him the third starting spot for the Toyota Owners 400, round 9 on the NSCS 2015 circuit. This is Busch’s third top-three start of the season.
AJ Allmendinger qualified fourth in his No. 47 Scott Products Chevrolet SS to post his first top-five starting spot of the year while Busch’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate and current point leader, Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy Johns/Budweiser Chevrolet SS, posted the fifth fastest lap of the qualifying session. Martin Truex, Jr., behind the wheel of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet SS will start sixth.
Jamie McMurray scored his third straight top-ten qualifying effort with a ninth place run in his No. 1 Energizer Chevrolet SS giving Chevrolet five of the top-ten starting positions for Saturday’s race.
Four other Chevrolet SS drivers narrowly missed making it to the top ten: Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS), Kyle Larson (No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS), Tony Stewart (No. 14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet SS) and Paul Menard (No. 27 CertainTeed/Menards Chevrolet SS) will start 11th, 12th, 13th and 15th respectively, giving Team Chevy nine of the top 15 starting positions overall.
Joey Logano (Ford) won the pole and Denny Hamlin (Toyota) qualified second to round out the top-five qualifiers.