Rain canceled qualifying for Saturday's Mission 200 at the Glen NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Watkins Glen International, which resulted in the starting lineup for Saturday afternoon's race being set by the qualifying metric.
This metric, which NASCAR introduced ahead of the 2025 season as the replacement for the old and more complicated four-variable metric that had been used from 2020 to 2024, factors in each car's result in the most recent race and each car's position in the owner standings, with more weight placed on the more recent race result than the points position.
A full breakdown of the formula can be found here.
Kyle Larson takes Watkins Glen pole for Rajah Caruth
Rajah Caruth was knocked out of the series' most recent race at Texas Motor Speedway in a late crash and scored with a 34th place DNF. However, he was behind the wheel of the No. 32 Chevrolet for Jordan Anderson Racing, which is 17th in the owner standings, in this event.
This weekend, he is set to be back behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports for the seventh time this year. He is the primary driver of the No. 88 car, for 23 of 33 races to be exact, in 2026, with the other 10 races split up between the four Hendrick Motorsports Cup Series drivers.
The No. 88 team is second in the owner standings, largely due to Kyle Larson's two victories, and Larson won the second of those two races at Texas a week ago. This, coupled with the cancelation of Watkins Glen qualifying, resulted in Caruth taking the pole position for Saturday afternoon's 82-lap race.
Again, the metric is based strictly on the owner (car), not the driver, which is crucial in the case of shared entries such as the No. 88 car. Caruth is 15th in the driver point standings.
JR Motorsports' Justin Allgaier, whose No. 7 team leads the owner standings after a second place finish at Texas, is set to join his teammate on the front row. As the only driver of the No. 7 Chevrolet, Allgaier is also the series points leader.
A full starting lineup for Saturday's race can be found here.
The CW Network is set to provide live coverage of the Mission 200 at the Glen from Watkins Glen International beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET this afternoon. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss it!
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