NASCAR at Indianapolis: Starting lineup, pole for Sunday's Brickyard race

Tom Gatto

NASCAR at Indianapolis: Starting lineup, pole for Sunday's Brickyard race image

The starting lineup and pole for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was determined by the same procedure that has been in place for most races since the series' return from its COVID-19 pandemic pause.

The starting grid for the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records, which is scheduled to go green at 4:23 p.m. ET at The Brickyard and will be broadcast live on NBC, was determined by a combination of random draw and positions in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings in place of qualfying and practice sessions. 

MORE: Updated 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule

Pit stall selection for Cup Series races that are run without qualifying is determined by the results of the previous race. In the case of Sunday's race at Indy, the selection was based on where drivers finished in last Sunday's race at Pocono Raceway.

Below is the starting lineup for Saturday's NASCAR race at Indianapolis and how it was set.

Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Indianapolis?

Joey Logano will be on the pole for Sunday's race after a random drawing of the top 12 in the point standings. This is Logano's first pole of the season, in Race No. 16. Logano comes into Indy sixth in the point standings, 81 points behind series leader Kevin Harvick, but he has finished no better than 17th in his last four races. He was 36th and 24th in the weekend races at Pocono.

Joining Logano on the front row will be Kurt Busch, who is 10th in the standings. Busch is coming off a 13th-place finish in the Pocono Sunday race.

MORE: Watch all NASCAR races live with fuboTV (7-day free trial)

Logano (Team Penske) and Busch (Chip Ganassi Racing) drive for teams that know how to win at Indy in multiple series. Penske and Ganassi have combined for 22 Indianapolis 500 victories, with Team Penske earning 18, and each has one NASCAR Cup Series win at Indy.

Below is the protocol for how the Cup Series field was set at Indianapolis:

  • Positions 1-12: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
  • Positions 13-24: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
  • Positions 25-36: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
  • Positions 37-40: Open teams in order of owners points

NASCAR starting lineup at Indianapolis

NASCAR has scrapped prerace qualifying and practice to limit time spent at the track during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has mostly been using random draws to determine starting positions for races.

The results of Thursday's draw for the starting lineup in the Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400 Powered by Big Machine Records at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

Pos. Driver Car No.  Team
1 Joey Logano 22 Team Penske
2 Kurt Busch 1 Chip Ganassi Racing
3 Alex Bowman 88 Hendrick Motorsports
4 Justin Allgaier* 48 Hendrick Motorsports
5 Aric Almirola 10 Stewart-Haas Racing
6 Denny Hamlin 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
7 Kyle Busch 18 Joe Gibbs Racing
8 Martin Truex Jr. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing
9 Brad Keselowski 2 Team Penske
10 Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports
11 Kevin Harvick 4 Stewart-Haas Racing
12 Ryan Blaney 12 Team Penske
13 Tyler Reddick 8 Richard Childress Racing
14 Ryan Newman 6 Roush Fenway Racing
15 Matt DiBenedetto 21 Wood Brothers Racing
16 Austin Dillon 3 Richard Childress Racing
17 Bubba Wallace 43 Richard Petty Motorsports
18 William Byron 24 Hendrick Motorsports
19 John Hunter Nemechek 38 Front Row Motorsports
20 Chris Buescher 17 Roush Fenway Racing
21 Matt Kenseth 42 Chip Ganassi Racing
22 Clint Bowyer 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
23 Erik Jones 20 Joe Gibbs Racing
24 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing
25 Joey Gase 51 Petty Ware Racing
26 Brennan Poole 15 Premium Motorsports
27 Michael McDowell 34 Front Row Motorsports
28 Garrett Smithley 53 Rick Ware Racing
29 Ty Dillon 13 Germain Racing
30 Cole Custer 41 Stewart-Haas Racing
31 Corey LaJoie 32 Go Fas Racing
32 Ross Chastain 77 Spire Motorsports
33 Quin Houff 00 StarCom Racing
34 JJ Yeley 27 Rick Ware Racing
35 Christopher Bell 95 Leavine Family Racing
36 Ryan Preece 37 JTG Daugherty Racing
37 Daniel Suarez 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing
38 Timmy Hill 66 Motorsports Business Management
39 Johs Bilicki 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing
40 BJ McLeod 78 BJ McLeod Motorsports

* Allgaier is driving in place of Jimmie Johnson, who tested positive for COVID-19.

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.