NASCAR at Richmond starting lineup: Kyle Larson edges out Chase Elliott for his first pole of 2024

Larson survives Elliott's fast lap to sit on top of an all-Hendrick front row

By Steven Taranto

Mar 30, 2024 at 1:18 pm ET • 1 min read

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Kyle Larson won the pole for the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway in qualifying on Saturday, posting a lap of 22.438 (120.332 mph) in the final round to withstand the fast lap of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott and earn his first pole of the 2024 season. Larson's pole is also the 17th of his Cup career overall.

Saturday's qualifying session came down to the wire as Elliott took to the track and momentarily tracked toward knocking Larson off the top spot, but Elliott would end up losing his pace towards a faster lap than his teammate in the apex of Turns 3 and 4 coming to the checkered flag. Larson would wind up hanging onto the pole by a scant .002 seconds, but there was some solace for Elliott in that he earned his first front row starting spot since Martinsville in fall 2022.

Larson and Elliott were two of three Hendrick drivers to make the final round of qualifying, with Alex Bowman qualifying fourth despite hitting the wall on his qualifying lap. William Byron, last week's winner at Circuit of the Americas, was the lone Hendrick driver to not make the top 10 and qualified 13th.

Bubba Wallace in fifth was the fastest Toyota in qualifying, while Todd Gilliland would be the fastest Ford in sixth.