Kyle Busch Will Lead NASCAR Sprint Cup Field at Richmond

Photo Credit: Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR

Taking pole for Saturday's running of the Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400 is the #18 Toyota of Kyle Busch. Lapping the 0.75 mile Richmond International Raceway short track at 21.247 seconds, Busch prevailed over the Michael Waltrip Racing-owned #00 Toyota of David Reutimann by 8/100ths of a second.

In 3rd and 4th spot, the Hendrick Motorsports team placed two Chevrolets behind the Toyota pairing starting the Saturday night Richmond event. Jimmie Johnson's #48 Chevrolet is one spot higher than the #24 of Jeff Gordon to secure the second row. Don't expect for any fuel to be added the overblown alleged feud between Johnson and Gordon. Reports have team owner Rick Hendrick sitting down with both drivers to talk through the rift between the tightly-knitted teammates.

Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Brian Vickers and Clint Bowyer round out the top-10 starting positions.

Also capturing the pole for the NASCAR Nationwide running for Friday night, Kyle Busch has a lot positive history at Richmond International Raceway. The site of his first NASCAR race win in the than-Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) in 2004, Kyle Busch has been the highest finishing driver in the past 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup series events at the short track. Busch and his #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is also the reigning winner of the 400-lap race.

The running of the 2010 Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400 will be televised on FOX with the cue to start engines coming shortly 7:30PM.


2010 Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400
at Richmond International Raceway
NASCAR Sprint Cup
Starting Lineup

Pos # | Car # | Driver | Sponsor/Car Make

1) 18 Kyle Busch         M&M's Toyota
2) 00 David Reutimann   Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota
3) 48 Jimmie Johnson   Lowe's / KOBALT Tools Chevrolet
4) 24 Jeff Gordon      DuPont Chevrolet 
5) 39 Ryan Newman      Army Medicine Chevrolet 
6) 12 Brad Keselowski   Penske Dodge
7) 29 Kevin Harvick    Reese's Chevrolet
8) 1 Jamie McMurray    Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
9) 83 Brian Vickers    Red Bull Toyota 
10) 33 Clint Bowyer     BB&T Chevrolet 
11) 87 Joe Nemechek     NEMCO Motorsports Toyota
12) 82 Scott Speed      Red Bull Toyota
13) 36 Casey Mears      H.D. Segar Inc. Insurance Chevrolet
14) 5 Mark Martin      Hendrickcars.com / GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
15) 43 A J Allmendinger Valvoline Ford
16) 2 Kurt Busch       Miller Lite Dodge
17) 31 Jeff Burton      Caterpillar Chevrolet
18) 14 Tony Stewart     Office Depot / Old Spice Chevrolet
19) 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
20) 47 Marcos Ambrose    Bush's Best Baked Beans / Kingsford Toyota
21) 17 Matt Kenseth     Crown Royal Ford
22) 9 Kasey Kahne      Budweiser 25th Anniversary Ford
23) 20 Joey Logano      The Home Depot Toyota
24) 19 Elliott Sadler    Reynolds Ford
25) 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet
26) 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
27) 77 Sam Hornish Jr.   Mobil 1 Dodge
28) 99 Carl Edwards     Scotts EZ Seed Ford
29) 78 Regan Smith      Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
30) 11 Denny Hamlin     FedEx Ground Toyota
31) 71 Bobby Labonte    TRG Motorsports Chevrolet
32) 98 Paul Menard      Schrock / /Menards Ford 
33) 16 Greg Biffle      3M Ford 
34) 32 Reed Sorenson    Braun Racing Toyota
35) 6 David Ragan      UPS Ford
36) 09 Mike Bliss       Phoenix Construction / Graceway Chevrolet
37) 7 Robby Gordon     BAMVIP.com / James Otto / Whitney Duncan
38) 34 Travis Kvapil     Long John Silver's Ford 
39) 26 David Stremme     Air National Guard Ford
40) 37 David Gilliland   Taco Bell Ford
41) 46 Terry Cook       The Atlantic Company Dodge
42) 38 Kevin Conway     Extenze Ford
43) 64 Tony Raines      Gunselman Motorsports Toyota