Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway is the ninth of 26 races on the 2025 regular season calendar, and it marks the third straight weekend of the series visiting a track that is also scheduled to host a playoff race.
Fortunately for those who sat through the rain on Friday at the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol, Tennessee oval, there is only a 4% chance of rain on Saturday afternoon, according to The Weather Channel. NASCAR practice is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. ET, followed by qualifying at 3:05 p.m. ET.
But just in case, and considering Friday's weather, let's have a look what the starting lineup for Sunday afternoon's 500-lap Food City 500 would look like if qualifying gets rained out.
Full NASCAR Cup lineup at Bristol if qualifying is canceled
1st - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
2nd - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
3rd - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
4th - Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
5th - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
6th - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
7th - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
8th - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
9th - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
10th - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
11th - Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
12th - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
13th - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
14th - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
15th - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
16th - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
17th - Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
18th - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
19th - Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
20th - Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
21st - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
22nd - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
23rd - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
24th - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
25th - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
26th - Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
27th - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
28th - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
29th - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
30th - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
31st - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
32nd - Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
33rd - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
34th - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
35th - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
36th - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
37th - Jesse Love, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
38th - Corey LaJoie, No. 01 Rick Ware Racing Ford
39th - Josh Bilicki, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford
This lineup was generated by the new qualifying metric which NASCAR introduced over the offseason. This formula only features two variables, making it a lot more straightforward than the four-variable metric that had been implemented in 2020 and used up until the 2024 season concluded.
This metric, which is explained in more detail here, is generally used to determine the qualifying order, but in the event that qualifying is canceled, the order is reversed to set the starting lineup.
Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, who won last year's spring race at the track, would be on pole if qualifying is canceled. Hamlin is set to enter the weekend having won back-to-back races for the first time since 2012, as he also collected victories at Martinsville Speedway and Darlington Raceway.
Sunday's race is scheduled to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Bristol Motor Speedway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the Food City 500 action!