Barring yet another qualifying session cancelation, which very well may happen given the current weather forecast at Kansas Speedway for later today, the qualifying order is set for Saturday ahead of Sunday afternoon's Hollywood Casino 400.
This order was determined by the qualifying metric, which takes into account the owner standings (30%) and each car's finish in the most recent race (70%). When it comes to the playoffs, the playoff drivers are locked into the final 16 spots and sorted by the metric, while the remaining drivers are slotted in before them, even if they have better metric scores than some of the playoff drivers.
Note that if qualifying is canceled, all drivers are grouped together, and the metric determines the starting lineup, meaning that the playoff drivers would not be guaranteed to start inside the top 16.
The only change to the entry list since this past weekend's race at Bristol Motor Speedway is the removal of the No. 66 Garage 66 (MBM Motorsports) Ford, which was driven by Josh Bilicki.
That car was the only non-chartered (open) car on the entry list at Bristol, meaning that this weekend's 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Kansas City, Kansas oval is set to feature only the 36 chartered cars. Just five races this year have been contested without any open cars.
Through three playoff races, there have been two qualifying rainouts. If Kansas doesn't become the third, here's a look at the qualifying order for Saturday.
NASCAR Cup qualifying order at Kansas
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
2 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
3 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
4 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
5 | Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
7 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
8 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
9 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
10 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
11 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
12 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
13 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
14 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
15 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
16 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
17 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
18 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
19 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
20 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
21 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
22 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
23 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
24 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
25 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
26 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
27 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
28 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
29 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
30 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
31 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
32 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
33 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
34 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
35 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
36 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
USA Network is set to provide live coverage of the Hollywood Casino 400 from Kansas Speedway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, September 27. Don't miss any of the action from race number four of 10 on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason calendar!
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