The first of 10 races on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoff schedule is the Cook Out Southern 500, which is scheduled to take place at Darlington Raceway this Sunday evening.
This 367-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped Darlington, South Carolina oval served as the playoff opener from 2020 to 2023 before serving as the regular season finale last year, a schedule change caused by NASCAR's three-week summer break due to NBC's Olympics commitment. Now it's back in the postseason.
The qualifying order for this weekend's race is effectively two orders in one. The new two-variable metric was used among the 22 non-playoff drivers competing, and then it was used again among the 16 playoff drivers, to ensure that the 16 playoff drivers are the last 16 drivers to make their single-car qualifying attempts.
A full breakdown of the formula, which was introduced just before the 2025 season, can be found here.
There are technically no longer any qualifying groups, nor are there any row-by-row lane designations, and there is notably no longer a second round shootout for the pole position since the "Lady in Black" is not a superspeedway.
Here's the full 38-driver qualifying order for Saturday morning's qualifying session.
Full NASCAR Cup Series qualifying order at Darlington
1 - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
2 - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
3 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
4 - Derek Kraus, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet
5 - Timmy Hill, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford
6 - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
7 - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
8 - Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
9 - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
10 - Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
11 - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
12 - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
13 - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
14 - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
15 - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
16 - Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
17 - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
18 - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
19 - Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
20 - Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
21 - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
22 - Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
23 - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
24 - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
25 - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
26 - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
27 - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
28 - Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
29 - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
30 - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
31 - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
32 - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
33 - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
34 - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
35 - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
36 - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
37 - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
38 - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
USA Network's live coverage of the Cook Out Southern 500 is set to begin at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, August 31. Be sure to start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from Darlington Raceway!