NASCAR lineup at Charlotte: Starting order, pole for Thursday night race without qualifying

The starting lineup for Wednesday night's NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which has been rescheduled for Thursday night due to rain, was set upon the conclusion of Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at the same track — kind of.

The order for the top 20 cars to start Thursday night's race is an inversion of the top 20 finishers from the 600 with the exception of Jimmie Johnson, who failed post-race inspection and was disqualified from his second-place finish.

That means Johnson has to start Thursday night's race in last place, but a couple of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates will lead the field to the green flag as a result of their finishes Sunday.

MORE: Updated NASCAR Cup Series schedule for 2020

Thursday night's Cup Series race is the second this year for which the starting lineup was determined by a prior race. Last week's mid-week event at Darlington had its field set by the same formula after a combination of points and a random draw set the lineup for the first Darlington race. Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 was the only race on NASCAR's modified schedule for 2020 for which the lineup was set by qualifying.

Until further notice, all NASCAR Cup Series races on the 2020 schedule will proceed without practice or qualifying sessions, including Thursday night's race at Charlotte.

Who is on the pole for the NASCAR race at Charlotte?

Because of Johnson's disqualification from Sunday's results, his HMS teammate, William Byron, received credit for a 20th-place finish rather than a 21st-place finish. That means Byron will start on the pole for Thursday night's race. Talk about luck.

Another HMS driver, Alex Bowman, will join Byron on the front row to start the race thanks to his 20th-place finish Sunday.

Because of the inversion, the winner of Sunday's race, Brad Keselowski, will start Thursday's race 20th.

NASCAR starting lineup at Charlotte

Below is the complete starting lineup for Thursday night's NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The top 20 spots are an inversion of the top 20 finishers from Sunday's race, and the bottom 20 spots are simply the bottom 20 finishers from Sunday's race, with the exception of Johnson.

One note: Josh Bilicki and J.J. Yeley are driver changes from Sunday's Coca-Cola 600, so they will drop to the back of the pack before the start of Thursday night's race.