NASCAR lineup at Indianapolis: Starting order, pole for Sunday's race with qualifying

Tom Gatto

NASCAR lineup at Indianapolis: Starting order, pole for Sunday's race with qualifying image

NASCAR conducted qualifying for the seventh time this season Sunday when drivers navigated the 2.439-mile road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to set the starting lineup for the Verizon 200 at The Brickyard (1 p.m. ET; NBC, TSN 3, 5, MRN).

On-track qualifying is a rarity this season as NASCAR tries to limit the amount of time teams spend at the track amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Only eight races total are scheduled to have practice and qualifying in 2021; Road America was race No. 6, joining Daytona (for the Daytona 500), Bristol's dirt track, Circuit of the Americas, Charlotte (for the Coca-Cola 600) and Nashville.

The remaining sessions will be for a new track on the schedule (Indianapolis' road course) and the season-ending Championship 4 race at Phoenix. Road America is a "new" track as well: NASCAR's Cup Series has not raced at the course since 1956, but the Xfinity Series has been racing there since 2010.

Below is the starting lineup, which was set with qualifying, for Sunday's Verizon 200 at The Brickyard.

MORE: Watch today's NASCAR race live with fuboTV (free 7-day trial)

Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Indianapolis?

William Byron won the pole on Sunday, posting a speed of 100.044 mph in the second round of qualifying.

"Hopefully we have the speed in the race on my end to back it up, but definitely been doing a good job in qualifying," Byron said. "Love that we've got qualifying back because I feel like that's one of our strengths on the 24. Looking forward to the race, and like I said, hopefully we can keep it up there."

Chase Briscoe will join Byron on the front row of the starting grid after qualifying second. Two other Hendrick cars will be part of the top five: Chase Elliott will start third, and Kyle Larson will start fourth.

NASCAR starting lineup at Indianapolis

NASCAR used two rounds of qualifying to set the starting lineup for Sunday's Verizon 200 at The Brickyard. The fastest 12 cars in Round 1 advanced to Round 2. Forty cars were entered for the race.

Start pos. Driver Car No. Team
1 William Byron 24 Hendrick Motorsports
2 Chase Briscoe 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
3 Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports
4 Kyle Larson 5 Hendrick Motorsports
5 Daniel Suarez 99 TrackHouse Racing
6 Martin Truex Jr. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing
7 Joey Logano 22 Team Penske
8 AJ Allmendinger 16 Kaulig Racing
9 Ross Chastain 42 Chip Ganassi Racing
10 Cole Custer 41 Stewart-Haas Racing
11 Tyler Reddick 8 Richard Childress Racing
12 Michael McDowell 34 Front Row Motorsports
13 Austin Cindric 33 Team Penske
14 Denny Hamlin 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
15 Matt DiBenedetto 21 Wood Brothers Racing
16 Ryan Blaney 12 Team Penske
17 Christopher Bell 20 Joe Gibbs Racing
18 Aric Almirola 10 Stewart-Haas Racing
19 Chris Buescher 17 Roush Fenway Racing
20 Kurt Busch 1 Chip Ganassi Racing
21 Kyle Busch 18 Joe Gibbs Racing
22 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing
23 Austin Dillon 3 Richard Childress Racing
24 Alex Bowman 48 Hendrick Motorsports
25 Kevin Harvick 4 Stewart-Haas Racing
26 Corey LaJoie 7 Spire Motorsports
27 Bubba Wallace 23 23XI Racing
28 Erik Jones 43 Richard Petty Motorsports
29 Justin Haley 77 Spire Motorsports
30 Ryan Preece 37 JTG Daugherty Racing
31 Brad Keselowski 2 Team Penske
32 Ryan Newman 6 Roush Fenway Racing
33 Anthony Alfredo 38 Front Row Motorsports
34 James Davison 15 Rick Ware Racing
35 Andy Lally 78 Live Fast Motorsports
36 Josh Bilicki 52 Rick Ware Racing
37 Cody Ware 51 Petty Ware Racing
38 Quin Houff 00 StarCom Racing
39 Garrett Smithley 53 Rick Ware Racing
40 Timmy Hill 66 Motorsports Business Management

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.