NASCAR Starting Lineup for Saturday's Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway

Author:
Tom Bowles
Publish date:
Jul 6, 2019

An Independence Day weekend tradition comes to a close this weekend for NASCAR's 2019 Coke Zero Sugar 400 just as a new one begins. The racing at Daytona International Speedway should be markedly different as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is running without restrictor plates here for the first time since 1987. Their new superspeedway package has led to an uptick in speed; Martin Truex Jr. reached a one-lap average of nearly 206 mph during practice. It's easily the fastest these cars have run around the 2.5-mile superspeedway since the plates were first used to slow cars down in the late 1980s.

It would have been interesting to see how much speed was retained in single-car qualifying runs. But Mother Nature reminded us Friday why this July tradition is ending in the first place. Bad weather forced the postponement of pole qualifying for the first time this year, meaning this Saturday's race is set by the NASCAR rule book. The July race has been plagued by summer Florida thunderstorms since moving to primetime, one of many reasons the sport chose to switch it to the fall. Going forward, this race will serve as NASCAR's regular-season finale beginning Aug. 29, 2020.

Points leader Joey Logano will start on the inside of the front row, leading the field to green for the first time ever on a superspeedway. The rest of the grid was aligned by owner points, meaning the fastest cars all season like Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and others will start up front.

The decision to cancel qualifying was easy as no one was in position to DNQ; just 40 cars showed up to fill the 40-car grid. It's only the fifth time in 18 races the Cup Series has a full field of cars.

1. Joey Logano

2. Kyle Busch

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Martin Truex Jr.

6. Denny Hamlin

7. Chase Elliott

8. Kurt Busch

9. Alex Bowman

10. Ryan Blaney

11. Aric Almirola

12. William Byron

13. Kyle Larson

14. Jimmie Johnson

15. Daniel Suarez

16. Clint Bowyer

17. Erik Jones

18. Ryan Newman

19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

20. Paul Menard

21. Austin Dillon

22. Chris Buescher

23. Ty Dillon

24. Daniel Hemric

25. Matt DiBenedetto

26. Ryan Preece

27. David Ragan

28. Michael McDowell

29. Bubba Wallace

30. Corey Lajoie

31. Matt Tifft

32. Quin Houff

33. Landon Cassill (i)

34. Justin Haley (i)

35. BJ McLeod (i)

36. Parker Kligerman (i)

37. JJ Yeley

38. Ross Chastain (i)

39. Brendan Gaughan (i)

40. Joey Gase

(i) - Ineligible to collect Cup Series points

Failed To Qualify

None

QUALIFYING NOTES

Joey Logano has already won one race from the pole this season, last month at Michigan International Speedway. He'll be attempting to score his first win at Daytona's 2.5-mile tri-oval since the 2015 Daytona 500.
William Byron (12th) will start from the rear of the field with a backup car after contact with Brad Keselowski during Thursday's practice. Byron was this year's Daytona 500 pole sitter.
Daniel Hemric (24th) has the best starting spot of any rookie in the field (owner points).
Quin Houff (32nd) is making his first start with Premium Motorsports' No. 15 car this season and the first Cup superspeedway start of his career. Houff has run nine races with Spire Motorsports' No. 77, posting a best finish of 28th.
Justin Haley (34th) returns to Spire Motorsports for the third Cup start of his career. He has a best finish of 32nd with the team but was competitive at another superspeedway, Talladega, earlier this season before crashing out late.
Parker Kligerman (36th) returns with Gaunt Brothers Racing as the team continues its limited schedule of about a dozen races this year.
JJ Yeley (37th) is back with Rick Ware Racing for his third start in the last five races with the team. He'll run the No. 52.
Ross Chastain (38th) moves to Premium Motorsports' unchartered No. 27 for this race. Xchange of America has signed on as primary sponsor in a one-race deal.
Brendan Gaughan (39th) returns for his third of four starts with Beard Motorsports this season. The team only runs the superspeedway races on the schedule.
Joey Gase (40th) is teaming up with Rick Ware Racing to run their third car, the No. 53. Gase has run five races for Carl Long Racing on the Cup level this year.