The NASCAR Cup Series was scheduled to qualify for the Cook Out Southern 500 on Saturday. However, Mother Nature had other plans as the single-car session, along with practice, were canceled.
The starting lineup for tomorrow night’s race was set by metric, per Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic. Based on the metric, Tyler Reddick will start on the pole for the Cook Out Southern 500. Daniel Suarez, fellow Chase driver along with Reddick, will start from the second position.
Mother Nature forcing qualifying to be canceled has put a number of Chase drivers in a hole to begin Sunday night’s race. For others, like Reddick and Suarez, it ended up being a benefit.
Full NASCAR Cup Series starting lineup at Darlington
Here is a look at the full starting lineup for Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500:
- Tyler Reddick (Chase)
- Daniel Suarez (Chase)
- Ryan Preece (Chase)
- Denny Hamlin (Chase)
- Michael McDowell
- Austin Cindric (Chase)
- Chase Briscoe (Chase)
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Austin Dillon
- Alex Bowman
- Christopher Bell (Chase)
- Brad Keselowski
- Joey Logano (Chase)
- Josh Berry
- Riley Herbst
- Cole Custer
- Bubba Wallace (Chase)
- Chase Elliott (Chase)
- John Hunter Nemechek
- William Byron (Chase)
- Todd Gilliland
- Corey Heim
- Ross Chastain
- Ryan Blaney (Chase)
- Kyle Larson (Chase)
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Ty Dillon
- Ty Gibbs (Chase)
- Noah Gragson
- AJ Allmendinger
- Connor Zilisch
- Austin Hill
- Zane Smith
- Carson Hocevar (Chase)
- Chris Buescher (Chase)
- Erik Jones
- Cody Ware
- Chad Finchum
Notable Chase drivers starting outside the top 10
Six of the 16 Chase drivers will start Sunday night’s race inside the top 10. That includes Reddick (1st), Suarez (2nd), Ryan Preece (3rd), Denny Hamlin (4th), Austin Cindric (6th) and Chase Briscoe (7th).
For the other Chase contenders, some of them have their work cut out for them when the green flag waves. Christopher Bell and Joey Logano are within striking distance of the top 10 as they will roll off 11th and 13th, respectively.
Bubba Wallace, a former pole sitter at Darlington, will start Sunday’s race from 17th, alongside Chase Elliott, who will roll off 18th. William Byron rounds out the top 20 with a 20th-place starting position in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Ryan Blaney, who enters the Chase second in the standings, will start 24th in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500. One position behind him is Kyle Larson, who will begin the race from the 25th spot. Ty Gibbs, who entered the Chase in the fourth position, rolls off 28th.
Carson Hocevar and Chris Buescher start Darlington from deep in the field, with Hocevar rolling off 34th and Buescher 35th.
The Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway is scheduled to begin on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. The race can be watched on USA Network or listened to on the Motor Racing Network.
