NASCAR lineup at Martinsville: Starting order, pole for race without qualifying

Tom Gatto

NASCAR lineup at Martinsville: Starting order, pole for race without qualifying image

The starting lineup for this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway was set by applying the statistical formula NASCAR is using for the majority of its 2021 races.

Drivers' starting positions for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 (rescheduled for 4 p.m. ET Sunday; FS1, TSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) were based on four factors:

  • Driver's finishing position from the previous race (25 percent)
  • Car owner's finishing position from the previous race (25 percent)
  • Team owner points ranking (35 percent)
  • Fastest lap from the previous race (15 percent)

Below is the starting lineup for the NASCAR race on the 0.526-mile track at Martinsville, which was set without qualifying.

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Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Martinsville?

Joey Logano led the field for the short-track night race at Martinsville, which turned in an afternoon race because of rain, based on the mathematical formula. Logano is coming off a win in the rain-delayed Food City Dirt Race at Bristol on March 29. Series points leader Denny Hamlin, who lost a late duel with Logano and finished third in that race, was assigned the second starting position.

Hamlin leads second-place driver Logano by 58 points in the standings despite having not won a race this year. Hamlin leads the series with six top-five finishes in the season's first seven races. He is tied for the series lead with three stage wins. 

The rest of the top 10 starters: William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski. 

NASCAR starting lineup at Martinsville

The starting lineup for this weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway was determined through a mathematical formula NASCAR adopted late in the 2020 season. The formula produced this starting lineup for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500:

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

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.