NASCAR: Darlington starting lineup – Chase Elliott takes pole
By Asher Fair
Chase Elliott took the pole position for the opening race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Darlington Raceway, the Cook Out Southern 500.
Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick have been the only two drivers to take any pole positions using NASCAR‘s new formula to determine starting lineups.
That won’t change for the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway, the Cook Out Southern 500.
Following his second place finish in the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, Elliott is set to start this 366-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) oval in Darlington, South Carolina from the pole position behind the wheel of his #9 Chevrolet.
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The starting lineup formula, which has now been used for four races, places 50% weight on each driver’s finish in the most recent race, 35% weight on each team’s position in the owner standings and 15% on the rank of each driver’s fastest lap in the previous race.
Additionally, for the playoffs, the remaining drivers all start ahead of the those who are no longer in championship driver. So for each of the three races of the round of 16, the 16 playoff drivers are all slated to start in the top 16.
Elliott, who nearly won one of the two races at the track Too Tough To Tame back in May before being wrecked late by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, doesn’t rank on top in any of these three categories, but he currently owns the best combination of the three.
In addition to finishing in second place in the regular season finale, he sits in fifth place in the standings and ranked third in terms of his fastest lap in that race.
Set to start alongside of him on the front row in second place is Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin. Hamlin finished in third in the regular season finale, he sits in second in the standings and he ranked 11th in terms of his fastest lap in that race.
Daytona International Speedway race winner William Byron is set to start in third place behind the wheel of his #24 Chevrolet.
Richard Petty Motorsports’ Bubba Wallace led the non-playoff drivers in the starting lineup metric and is set to start in 17th place behind the wheel of his #43 Chevrolet.
Here is the full unofficial starting lineup for the 2020 Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Race Results
1st – Chase Elliott
2nd – Denny Hamlin
3rd – William Byron
4th – Alex Bowman
5th – Brad Keselowski
6th – Martin Truex Jr.
7th – Ryan Blaney
8th – Kevin Harvick
9th – Clint Bowyer
10th – Aric Almirola
11th – Matt DiBenedetto
12th – Austin Dillon
13th – Joey Logano
14th – Cole Custer
15th – Kyle Busch
16th – Kurt Busch
17th – Bubba Wallace
18th – John Hunter Nemechek
19th – Michael McDowell
20th – Chris Buescher
21st – Christopher Bell
22nd – Jimmie Johnson
23rd – Brennan Poole
24th – Tyler Reddick
25th – Ty Dillon
26th – Matt Kenseth
27th – Corey LaJoie
28th – Daniel Suarez
29th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
30th – Erik Jones
31st – Ryan Newman
32nd – Quin Houff
33rd – Timmy Hill
34th – Reed Sorenson
35th – Ryan Preece
36th – James Davison
37th – J.J Yeley
38th – Josh Bilicki
39th – Joey Gase
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The Cook Out Southern 500 is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from Darlington Raceway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 6.