RICHMOND, Va. – In the final race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular season, Jimmie Johnson will lead his Hendrick Motorsports teammates to the green flag from the top 10.
Johnson earned a ninth-place starting position for the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS during Friday evening’s qualifying session at Richmond International Raceway.
Teammates Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon did not make the final round of qualifying, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not advance past the first round.
Two drivers focused on earning a Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berth, Kahne will roll the No. 5 HendrickRideAlongChevrolet SS off the grid 20th and Gordon’s No. 24 3M Chevrolet SS will start 23rd.
"This is a tough place," Gordon said. "But we're better than that. I hate it for our 3M Chevrolet team that we're going to be starting there, because I know we're better than that."
Earnhardt qualified 29th in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS.
"We qualified 26th here earlier this year -- I don't know, man, we've been struggling all year in qualifying,” Earnhardt said, calling the run “frustrating.”
Joey Logano won the pole position for Saturday night's race.