A NASCAR Cup Series champion could be crowned this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, with Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson holding a sizable 73-point lead over Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin in the championship standings with two races remaining on the 2026 schedule.
Sunday's 500-lap Xfinity 500 around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) oval in Ridgeway, Virginia is the final short track race on the 2026 schedule, and the standard short track qualifying format is set to be used to determine the starting lineup.
The qualifying metric (30% owner standings, 70% results of most recent race) was used to determine the full 37-car qualifying order. There is set to be just one round of qualifying, although each driver is allowed to run two laps in his single-car qualifying attempt.
That being said, drivers can opt to forego their second lap and simply run just one; there is no penalty for doing so, other than giving up the chance to run a bettter time, since the starting lineup is determined based on top lap speed, rather than average lap speed.
Three cars that ran at Talladega Superspeedway (Joey Gase's No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet, Casey Mears' No. 62 Beard Motorsports' Chevrolet, and Daniel Dye's No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports' Chevrolet) this past weekend are not on this weekend's entry list, while one has a different driver than initially planned.
Gray Gaulding was listed as the initial driver of the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford, but it was Josh Bilicki listed on the entry list. Then Gaulding was listed again on the qualifying order, but the team's social media and sponsorship announcement indicate that it's Bilicki set to make his fourth start of the year, rather than Gaulding lined up to make his third.
Here's a look at the full qualifying order for Sunday's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
NASCAR Cup Series qualifying order at Martinsville
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
2 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
3 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
4 | Josh Bilicki, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford |
5 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
6 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
7 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
8 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
9 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
10 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
11 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
12 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
13 | Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
14 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
15 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
16 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
17 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
18 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
19 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
20 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
21 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
22 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
23 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
24 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
25 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
26 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
27 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
28 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
29 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
30 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
31 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
32 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
33 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
34 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
35 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
36 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
37 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
Live coverage of Sunday afternoon's Xfinity 500 is set to be provided by NBC starting at 2:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action from the ninth of 10 races on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason schedule!
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