Bristol Motor Speedway is set to host the third race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs this Saturday night, but with only one 10-race postseason round under NASCAR's new "Chase" playoff format, this race is no longer a "cutoff" race.
Still, as Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson proved with his first win in 16 months in this past weekend's second playoff race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, the playoffs are arguably more important now than they were even during the "win and in" era.
Larson is the favorite to win Saturday night's 500-lap Bass Pro Shops Night Race at the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked oval in Bristol, Tennessee oval, and he has the advantage of being last in the qualifying order.
The only change to the entry list from the Gateway race to the Bristol race is the addition of the No. 66 Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) ford for Josh Bilicki, and Bilicki is lined up to qualify first.
The qualifying metric is based on the owner standings (30%) and the results of the most recent race (70%). Notably, when it comes to playoff qualifying sessions, the 16 championship contenders are only factored in after all the non-playoff drivers are slotted into the order, to guarantee that the playoff drivers qualify last.
While there is no second round shootout for pole like there is for superspeedway races, each driver is allowed two qualifying laps, rather than just one, because Bristol is a short track.
Drivers are not forced to run both laps if they only want to run one, however; the starting lineup is based on each driver's top lap speed, rather than average lap speed.
Here's a look at Friday's full qualifying order for Saturday night's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR qualiyfing order for Bristol playoff race
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Josh Bilicki, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford |
2 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
3 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
4 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
5 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
6 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
7 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
8 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
9 | Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
10 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
11 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
12 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
13 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
14 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
15 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
16 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
17 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
18 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
19 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
20 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
21 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
22 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
23 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
24 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
25 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
26 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
27 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
28 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
29 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
30 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
31 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
32 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
33 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
34 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
35 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
36 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
37 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
TruTV is set to air practice and qualifying live from Bristol Motor Speedway beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Bass Pro Shops Night Race itself is set to be shown live on USA Network beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday evening.
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