Silver lining: Blaney credits cloud cover after winning Richmond pole

Fri, Aug 14, 2026

Ryan Blaney says favorable cloud cover helped his qualifying lap as he earns the Busch Light Pole Award at Richmond Raceway.

Ryan Blaney climbing out of the car now.

Chase Briscoe came over and offered congratulations.

He'll be starting on the outside pole.

But Chase told me, Marty, he goes, "I don't think my lap's gonna stick."

Then Blaney goes out and puts it P1 on the board.

You caught a cloud and had a great lap, Ryan.

What was the key?

I appreciate the cloud.

I really do.

I got the benefit.

I think I only, you know, a handful of us got the benefit of the cloud.

But, no, I mean, you know, a really good day.

I thought our car was pretty decent in practice, and it's nice to put a good lap together.

Qualifying's always super tough here.

You know, you after running 50 or 60 laps in, in practice, you're gonna go out and run about three seconds faster than what your last lap just was.

So you just hope you hit it right, and you know, the 12 car was great.

Appreciate Body Armor, Flash IV, for being with us.

Ford, Ford Racing, Menards.

Yeah, I'm excited for tomorrow.

It's gonna be a, a fun night under the lights.

Hopefully we got something for them.

Long green flag runs typically a Richmond race.

What regular season is winding down, Ryan.

How important is it to have that track position for tomorrow night and, and try to get back to victory lane?

It definitely helps, that's for sure.

It really helps, you know, to start up towards the front and, you know, just kind of establish yourself early and, and try to set the pace.

Good pit stall as well.

So, yeah, the, the 12 group did a great job today and, and hopefully we can execute just as well tomorrow and see what we can do.