NASCAR: Gateway starting lineup if qualifying is canceled

If qualifying is canceled for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Gateway, here is what the starting lineup will look like.

For the fourth time in 14 races so far in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, qualifying was rained out at Charlotte Motor Speedway this past weekend.

Fortunately, the weather forecast for this coming race weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is a lot more promising, according to The Weather Channel.

But in the event that qualifying ends up not happening for the fifth time this year, the starting lineup would be set by the metric, which takes into account four factors: the driver’s finish in the most recent event (25%), the team owner’s finish in the most recent event (25%), the team’s rank in the owner standings (35%), and the rank of the driver’s fastest lap in the most recent event (15%).

In the event that an entrant does not have a true input value for any one of the four categories, said empty category or categories will receive a “41st place” value.

Here is what the starting lineup for the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway will look like in the off chance that qualifying is canceled once again.

Starting Lineup
1st – Ryan Blaney
2nd – William Byron
3rd – Martin Truex Jr.
4th – Tyler Reddick
5th – Kevin Harvick
6th – Kyle Busch
7th – Bubba Wallace
8th – Chris Buescher
9th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
10th – Alex Bowman
11th – Ross Chastain
12th – Brad Keselowski
13th – Christopher Bell
14th – Joey Logano
15th – Austin Dillon
16th – Justin Haley
17th – A.J. Allmendinger
18th – Ryan Preece
19th – Ty Gibbs
20th – Kyle Larson
21st – Daniel Suarez
22nd – Denny Hamlin
23rd – Harrison Burton
24th – Chase Briscoe
25th – Aric Almirola
26th – Michael McDowell
27th – Todd Gilliland
28th – Carson Hocevar
29th – Austin Cindric
30th – Erik Jones
31st – Corey LaJoie
32nd – Ty Dillon
33rd – Gray Gaulding
34th – B.J. McLeod
35th – Noah Gragson
36th – J.J. Yeley

If qualifying happens as scheduled, the drivers listed in the even positions are set to make up group one and qualify in reverse order. The drivers listed in the odd positions are set to make up group two and qualify in reverse order. The fastest five drivers in each group advance to the shootout for the pole position.

The Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET this Sunday, June 4. If you haven’t yet begun a free trial of FuboTV, do so today!