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

Tom Gatto

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

The starting lineup and pole for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway were not set by qualifying runs or by the random draws that were held earlier in the 2020 season as NASCAR moved to reduce time spent at the track because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instead, the starting grid for Sunday's race at Texas, the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN), was the result of a formula that took into account finishing position from the previous race, team owner points standings and the fastest lap from the previous race. This was the eighth time a version of the formula was used to determine the starting lineup for a race without qualifying. 

MORE: Updated 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule

The current formula was also used to determine pit stall selections, which means the pole sitter for Sunday's race made the first pit stall selection.

Below is the starting lineup for Sunday's NASCAR race at Texas and how it was set without qualifying.

Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Texas?

Kevin Harvick will lead the field for the start of Sunday's race at Texas. The driver of the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 car leads the Cup Series points standings heading into the Round of 8 race and is coming off a second-place finish last weekend at Kansas. He is 41 points above the cut line for the Championship 4 race next month at Phoenix.

Next to him on the front row will be Joey Logano, who held off Harvick for the win at Kansas and gained an automatic berth into the Championship 4 race. The remaining playoff drivers will line up in this order: 3. Brad Keselowski (+8); 4. Chase Elliott (-8); 5. Alex Bowman (-27); 6. Martin Truex Jr. (-31); 7. Denny Hamlin (+20); 8. Kurt Busch (-73).

Below is the formula for how the Cup Series field was set at Texas:

  • 35 percent: Owner's points position after previous race
  • 25 percent: Driver's final race position in previous race
  • 25 percent: Owner's finish position in previous race
  • 15 percent: Driver's fastest lap time in previous race

NASCAR starting lineup at Texas

The starting lineup for Sunday's race at Texas was determined by NASCAR's new formula for setting lineups in races without qualifying. The same procedure will be used through the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

The formula produced this starting lineup for Sunday's NASCAR race at Texas:

Start Driver Car No. Team
1 Kevin Harvick (P) 4 Stewart-Haas Racing
2 Joey Logano (P) 22 Team Penske
3 Brad Keselowski (P) 2 Team Penske
4 Chase Elliott (P) 9 Hendrick Motorsports
5 Alex Bowman (P) 88 Hendrick Motorsports
6 Martin Truex Jr. (P) 19 Joe Gibbs Racing
7 Denny Hamlin (P) 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
8 Kurt Busch (P) 1 Chip Ganassi Racing
9 Kyle Busch 18 Joe Gibbs Racing
10 Ryan Blaney 12 Team Penske
11 William Byron 24 Hendrick Motorsports
12 Austin Dillon 3 Richard Childress Racing
13 Aric Almirola 10 Stewart-Haas Racing
14 Matt DiBenedetto 21 Wood Brothers Racing
15 Christopher Bell 95 Leavine Family Racing
16 Cole Custer 41 Stewart-Haas Racing
17 Erik Jones 20 Joe Gibbs Racing
18 Bubba Wallace 43 Richard Petty Motorsports
19 Tyler Reddick 8 Richard Childress Racing
20 Chris Buescher 17 Roush Fenway Racing
21 Clint Bowyer 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
22 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing
23 Michael McDowell 34 Front Row Motorsports
24 John Hunter Nemechek 38 Front Row Motorsports
25 Ryan Newman 6 Roush Fenway Racing
26 Jimmie Johnson 48 Hendrick Motorsports
27 Ty Dillon 13 Germain Racing
28 Corey LaJoie 32 Go Fas Racing
29 Ryan Preece 37 JTG Daugherty Racing
30 Daniel Suarez 96 Gaunt Brothers Racing
31 Brennan Poole 15 Premium Motorsports
32 Matt Kenseth 42 Chip Ganassi Racing
33 JJ Yeley 27 Rick Ware Racing
34 Quin Houff 00 StarCom Racing
35 Reed Sorenson 77 Spire Motorsports
36 Timmy Hill 66 MBM Motorsports
37 Josh Bilicki 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing
38 Garrett Smithley 53 Rick Ware Racing
39 Joey Gase 51 Petty Ware Racing
40 Chad Finchum 49 MBM Motorsports

(P) Playoff driver.

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.