Jeff Gordon finished second while Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.

Kasey Kahne took the lead on the second green-white-checker attempt and held off Matt Kenseth to score his first win of the season, at the Oral-B USA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Numerous drivers inside the top 30 in points had the opportunity to seal a spot in the Chase with a victory in Richmond, while Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer and Kyle Larson.

With them being inside the top 30 in points, Paul Menard, Austin Dillon, Jamie McMurray, Brian Vickers, Marcos Ambrose, Casey Mears, Martin Truex Jr., Tony Stewart, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Danica Patrick, Justin Allgaier, Michael Annett, David Gilliland, David Ragan and Cole Whitt could only qualify for the Chase with a win.

The entry list for the Federated Auto Parts 400 was released on Tuesday, September 2, 2014 at 8:32 a.m. Eastern time.

Keselowski expressed that it was "a great start to the weekend but still got a long ways to go" but also stated that he was "excited and I feel like we have a shot to win".

Jeff Gordon joined Keselowski on the front row, praising his rival's lap time; he was almost a tenth of a second clear at the end of qualifying.

Further down the order, Matt Kenseth made light contact with the wall in turn 1, but the caution flag was not brought out until lap 124.

Hendrick Motorsports team mate Dale Earnhardt Jr. – who was 12th in the finishing order – put the cause down to the ambient conditions, while also stating that he "thought I might have some trouble with it because I had a sinus cold all week" and that he "must have something going on — something that didn't agree with him today that he ate or drank".