NASCAR lineup at Nashville: Starting order, pole for Ally 400 with qualifying

Tom Gatto

NASCAR lineup at Nashville: Starting order, pole for Ally 400 with qualifying image

NASCAR conducted qualifying for just the fifth time this season Sunday when drivers took one lap each around the 1.333-mile concrete oval of Nashville Superspeedway to set the starting lineup for the Ally 400 (3:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN3, 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; Nashville was race No. 5, joining Daytona (for the Daytona 500), Bristol's dirt track, Circuit of the Americas and Charlotte (for the Coca-Cola 600).

The remaining sessions will be for new tracks on the schedule (Road America and Indianapolis' road course) and the season-ending Championship 4 race at Phoenix. Nashville is a "new" track as well: NASCAR is back after a 10-year absence, but Sunday's event will be the first Cup Series race at the track. The Xfinity and Truck series raced there previously and raced it again this weekend.

Below is the starting lineup, which was set with qualifying, for Sunday's Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

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

Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Nashville?

Aric Almirola paced the field in single-car, single-lap qualifying. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver went out second in qualifying and posted a speed of 161.992 mph. It is his third career pole.

The pole is a season highlight for Almirola's No. 10 team, which enters Sunday's race 28th in the point standings.

Joining Almirola on the front row will be Kyle Busch, who already has a win at the track this weekend. He took the Xfinity Series race on Saturday.

NASCAR impounded all the cars after qualifying, so teams cannot make adjustments to them prior to the race. 

NASCAR starting lineup at Nashville

NASCAR used qualifying runs to set the starting lineup for Sunday's race at Nashville Superspeedway, the Ally 400. Thirty-nine drivers were entered for the race.

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