NASCAR: Bristol starting lineup – Brad Keselowski takes pole

Brad Keselowski took the pole position for the final race of the round of 16 of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Bristol Motor Speedway.

By virtue of NASCAR‘s starting lineup formula, Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski took the pole position for the third and final race of the round of 16 of the 2020 Cup Series playoffs at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race.

Keselowski took the pole position for this 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked oval in Bristol, Tennessee by having the best combination of most recent race result (50% weight), position in the owner standings (35% weight), and rank of fastest lap in the most recent race (15% weight).

He is the first driver other than Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick or Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott to take a pole position using this new formula. This race marks six usages of this formula.

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Keselowski, who started from the pole position in the May race at Bristol Motor Speedway by virtue of a random draw and went on to win it, won the most recent race at Richmond Raceway behind the wheel of his #2 Ford, and his #2 team sits in third place in the owner standings. His fastest lap in the race at Richmond Raceway ranked the best among all drivers.

Set to start alongside him on the front row in Saturday night’s race is teammate Joey Logano, who ranked in the top four in each of these metrics following his third place finish at Richmond Raceway behind the wheel of his #22 Ford.

The leader of the standings, Harvick, turned the second fastest lap at Richmond Raceway and finished in seventh place behind the wheel of his #4 Ford, netting him a fourth place starting position.

Harvick is set to start beside Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. in third behind the wheel of his #19 Toyota following Truex’s second place finish at Richmond Raceway. Truex ranks fifth in the standings and ranked sixth in terms of his fastest lap at the track.

Here is the full unofficial starting lineup for the 2020 Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Starting Lineup
1st – Brad Keselowski
2nd – Joey Logano
3rd – Martin Truex Jr.
4th – Kevin Harvick
5th – Austin Dillon
6th – Chase Elliott
7th – Denny Hamlin
8th – Alex Bowman
9th – Kyle Busch
10th – Aric Almirola
11th – Clint Bowyer
12th – Cole Custer
13th – Kurt Busch
14th – Ryan Blaney
15th – William Byron
16th – Matt DiBenedetto
17th – Tyler Reddick
18th – Christopher Bell
19th – Matt Kenseth
20th – Erik Jones
21st – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
22nd – Ryan Preece
23th – Chris Buescher
24th – Jimmie Johnson
25th – Ryan Newman
26th – Michael McDowell
27th – Bubba Wallace
28th – Ty Dillon
29th – Daniel Suarez
30th – Corey LaJoie
31st – John Hunter Nemechek
32nd – Brennan Poole
33rd – Quin Houff
34th – Reed Sorenson
35th – James Davison
36th – Joey Gase
37th – Gray Gaulding
38th – Timmy Hill
39th – Josh Bilicki
40th – Garrett Smithley

Tune in to NBC Sports Network at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 19 for the live broadcast of the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race from Bristol Motor Speedway.