NASCAR lineup at Phoenix: Starting order, pole for Sunday's race without qualifying

Tom Gatto

NASCAR lineup at Phoenix: Starting order, pole for Sunday's race without qualifying image

The starting lineup for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway was set by applying the statistical formula NASCAR is using for the majority of its 2021 races.

Drivers' starting positions for the Instacart 500 (3:30 p.m. ET; Fox, 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 Sunday's NASCAR race on the 1-mile track at Phoenix and how it was set without qualifying.

Watch Sunday's NASCAR race live with fuboTV (free 7-day trial)

Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Phoenix?

Brad Keselowski will line up on the pole after his performance last weekend at Las Vegas. He finished second in the Pennzoil 400 to Kyle Larson and won Stage 1 of the race. Keselowski is second in the Cup Series point standings, but he's just two points ahead of Larson, who is in third place.

Larson will line up to Keslowski's outside on the front row Sunday. (UPDATE: Larson will have to drop to the rear for pace laps because his car failed two prerace tech inspections Saturday. William Byron and Cody Ware will also have to go to the rear because their cars failed two inspections.)

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr. will start third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Hamlin leads the point standings thanks to three top-fives, three stage wins and 150 laps led, all series highs, in the first four races.    

NASCAR starting lineup at Phoenix

The starting lineup for Sunday's race at Phoenix was determined through a mathematical formula NASCAR adopted late in the 2020 season. The same procedure for setting lineups without qualifying is being used for the majority of races in 2021.

The formula produced this starting lineup for Sunday's NASCAR race at Phoenix Raceway, the Instacart 500:

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