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

Tom Gatto

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

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

NASCAR returned to the formula after holding qualifying the previous two weekends at Circuit of the Americas and Charlotte. 

Drivers' starting positions for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 (4 p.m. ET; FS1, TSN, PRN, 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)

NASCAR is conducting qualifying and practice for just eight Cup Series races in the 2021 season. The remaining sessions will be held at Nashville, Road America, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and Phoenix. The first three tracks are new to the NASCAR schedule, and Phoenix is the site of the season-ending Championship 4 race.

Below is the starting lineup, which was set without qualifying, for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race on Sonoma Raceway's 2.52-mile road course.

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

Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Sonoma?

Kyle Larson is on the pole for Sunday's race after his dominating win in the Coca-Cola 600. The Hendrick Motorsports driver also has the No. 1 pit stall location for the race. 

His teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron were awarded the second and third spots in the lineup. Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, the Cup Series points leader, completed the second row.

Martin Truex Jr., the two-time defending race winner, was assigned the 19th starting position.

NASCAR starting lineup at Somoma

NASCAR used a mathematical formula to set the starting lineup for Sunday's race at Sonoma Raceway, the Toyota/Save Mart 350, without qualifying. Thirty-seven drivers were entered for the race.

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