NASCAR: 2021 Phoenix championship race – Live qualifying updates

Follow along with our live qualifying updates for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

For the first time since August at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, NASCAR is actually utilizing a qualifying session to set the starting lineup for the Cup Series race.

With this Sunday’s Championship 4 season finale at Phoenix Raceway being an oval race, this also marks the first time since June at Nashville Superspeedway that a single-car qualifying session will set the starting lineup for a race.

NASCAR entered the 2021 Cup Series season planning only eight qualifying sessions in 36 races, with plans to use the starting lineup formula, which was introduced in August 2020 after NASCAR got rid of the random draws that were added as the sport returned from the COVID-19-related hiatus, for 27 of the other 28 (Pocono Raceway doubleheader was the exception with the top 20 invert for the second race).

That number became seven after the heat race qualifying was canceled for the inaugural race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Including Daytona 500 qualifying, which saw both a single-car session at the Duels, the qualifying session for Sunday’s 312-lap season finale around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) oval in Avondale, Arizona is just the fourth single-car qualifying session of the 2021 season.

Daytona International Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway hosted the first three.

Fortunately, qualifying is set to be back regularly next year like it was pre-2020, though it will look a bit different than many had been expecting.

So who will earn the pole position for tomorrow afternoon’s championship decider? Follow along with our live updates to find out.

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Full starting lineup: CLICK HERE
Full championship odds: CLICK HERE

Qualified

Rank – Driver – Car, Team, Manufacturer – Speed (miles per hour)
1st – Kyle Larson – #5, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet – 137.847
2nd – Chase Elliott – #9, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet – 136.939
3rd – William Byron – #24, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet – 136.846
4th – Ryan Blaney – #12, Team Penske, Ford – 136.804
5th – Kurt Busch – #1, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet – 136.742
6th – Denny Hamlin – #11, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota – 136.565
7th – Cole Custer – #41, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford – 136.199
8th – Christopher Bell – #20, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota – 136.193
9th – Kevin Harvick – #4, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford – 136.188
10th – Joey Logano – #22, Team Penske, Ford – 136.178
11th – Brad Keselowski – #2, Team Penske, Ford – 136.008
12th – Martin Truex Jr. – #19, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota – 135.88
13th – Kyle Busch – #18, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota – 135.839
14th – Matt DiBenedetto – #21, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford – 135.624
15th – Alex Bowman – #48, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet – 135.624
16th – Ross Chastain – #42, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet – 135.624
17th – Daniel Suarez – #99, Trackhouse Racing Team, Chevrolet – 135.552
18th – Aric Almirola – #10, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford – 135.501
19th – Ryan Newman – #6, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford – 135.461
20th – Tyler Reddick – #8, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet – 135.379
21st – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – #47, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet – 135.369
22nd – Chase Briscoe – #14, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford – 135.221
23rd – Austin Dillon – #3, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet – 135.089
24th – Corey LaJoie – #7, Spire Motorsports, Chevrolet – 135.074
25th – Bubba Wallace – #23, 23XI Racing, Toyota – 135.008
26th – Chris Buescher – #17, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford – 134.917
27th – Erik Jones – #43, Richard Petty Motorsports, Chevrolet – 134.72
28th – Michael McDowell – #34, Front Row Motorsports, Ford – 134.273
29th – Justin Haley – #77, Spire Motorsports, Chevrolet – 134.268
30th – Anthony Alfredo – #38, Front Row Motorsports, Ford – 133.799
31st – Ryan Preece – #37, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet – 133.725
32nd – B.J. McLeod – #78, Live Fast Motorsports, Ford – 132.445
33rd – Cody Ware – #51, Petty Ware Racing, Chevrolet – 130.624
34th – Joey Gase – #53, Rick Ware Racing, Chevrolet – 129.889
35th – Quin Houff – #00, StarCom Racing, Chevrolet – 129.213
36th – David Starr – #13, MBM Motorsports, Toyota – 129.153
37th – Josh Bilicki – #52, Rick Ware Racing, Ford – 129.092
38th – Garrett Smithley – #15, Rick Ware Racing, Chevrolet – 127.465
39th – Timmy Hill – #66, MBM Motorsports, Toyota – 0

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 season finale is set to be broadcast live on NBC from Phoenix Raceway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon. Start your free trial of FuboTV today!