NASCAR Starting Lineup for Sunday's Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway
NASCAR Starting Lineup for Sunday's Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway
The NASCAR Cup Series hits the one-quarter pole of its season this weekend at Richmond Raceway. The 0.75-mile oval moves to Sunday for its spring 2021 race that was canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Richmond also finishes up a short track swing that included events at Bristol Motor Speedway (dirt) and Martinsville Speedway. It's the first time Cup has run three straight races at ovals less than one mile since 1996, the last year North Wilkesboro Speedway was on the schedule.
Once again, the series has chosen to go with no on-track practice or qualifying due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the starting lineup was set for each team via the sport's qualifying metric established last season, defined below.
50% of the metric is their finishing position from the previous race (split between driver and owner).
35% of the metric is the team's current position in the NASCAR Cup Series owner point standings.
15% of the metric is their fastest lap during the previous race.
The team with the lowest total starts on the pole, then the next lowest, etc. until all available spots are filled. It's the best compromise NASCAR could make while attempting to limit each team's at-track time during the pandemic.
Only 38 cars entered the Richmond race, leaving two empty spots on this 40-car grid. The 36 teams who have guaranteed spots are entered along with two "open" cars: the No. 37 of JTG Daugherty Racing (Ryan Preece) and the No. 33 of Team Penske (Austin Cindric).
1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Chase Elliott
4. William Byron
5. Joey Logano
6. Kyle Larson
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Christopher Bell
9. Kevin Harvick
10. Kyle Busch
11. Austin Dillon
12. Chris Buescher
13. Tyler Reddick
14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
15. Bubba Wallace
16. Matt DiBenedetto
17. Kurt Busch
18. Ross Chastain
19. Ryan Newman
20. Brad Keselowski
21. Cole Custer
22. Aric Almirola
23. Michael McDowell
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24. Alex Bowman
25. Ryan Preece
26. Chase Briscoe (R)
27. Daniel Suarez
28. James Davison
29. Anthony Alfredo (R)
30. Erik Jones
31. Josh Bilicki
32. Quin Houff
33. Cody Ware (i)
34. Justin Haley (i)
35. BJ McLeod (i)
36. Corey LaJoie
37. Garrett Smithley (i)
38. Austin Cindric (i)
(R) – Rookie
(i) – Ineligible to collect Cup Series points
QUALIFYING NOTES
- Martin Truex Jr. (pole) starts up front for the first time since Talladega in June 2020. He's seeking his sixth win in his last 12 short track starts.
- Denny Hamlin (2nd) is the current Cup Series point leader (+76 over Truex). Hamlin's lead is so big, he could sit out the Richmond race and still remain atop the standings.
- Chase Elliott (3rd) is the best-starting Chevrolet.
- Joey Logano (5th) is the highest-qualifying Ford.
- Brad Keselowski (20th) won at this track last September. (There was no spring Richmond race last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
- Chase Briscoe (26th) is the highest-qualifying rookie.
- Garrett Smithley (37th) returns to the No. 53 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet, replacing JJ Yeley.
- Austin Cindric (38th) makes another start in the No. 33 Team Penske Ford with sponsorship provided by Verizon 5G. The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion is running a limited schedule this season in preparation for a full-season run in 2022.
NASCAR RACE BREAKDOWN
Race: Toyota Owners 400
Track: Richmond Raceway (Richmond, Va.)
Date: Sunday, April 18
TV: FOX, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SIRIUS XM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 400 laps (300 miles)
Stage 1: 80 Laps
Stage 2: 155 Laps
Final Stage: 165 Laps
PRE-RACE PREVIEW
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