For the seventh time during the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, qualifying was canceled on an oval, with the latest instance of inclement weather interference coming on Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway ahead of Saturday night's Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
You have to go back to 2021 to find the most recent season in which at least seven qualifying sessions did not happen, and that was only the case because NASCAR made the decision to ditch practice and qualifying for most races due to pandemic-related restrictions across the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
Aside from Bristol, other tracks where qualifying has been canceled this year include EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) in February, Talladega Superspeedway in April, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway in May, North Wilkesboro Speedway in July, and Darlington Raceway earlier this month to open up the 10-race "Chase" postseason.
For some perspective, only four qualifying sessions were canceled across the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined.
The metric (30% owner standings, 70% results of most recent race) set the full starting lineup, and unlike at Talladega, where there were 41 cars on the entry list, nobody ultimately failed to qualify because of the cancelation at Bristol.
There is only one non-chartered (open) car on the entry list this weekend, that being the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford of Josh Bilicki, so Saturday's 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol, Tennessee oval is set to see 37 cars.
Note that in the playoffs, NASCAR doesn't simply invert the qualifying order to determine the starting lineup when qualifying is canceled, since drivers are split up into two groups (non-playoff drivers and playoff drivers) in the qualifying order. The starting lineup is based exclusively on the metric, with no regard for whether a driver is a championship contender or not.
Here's how the starting lineup is set to look on Saturday night at Bristol, with Kyle Larson on pole after winning at Gateway and Alex Bowman as the top non-playoff driver in sixth (not 17th).
NASCAR starting lineup at Bristol after another qualifying cancelation
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
2 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
3 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
4 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
5 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
6 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
7 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
8 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
9 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
10 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
11 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
12 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
13 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
14 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
15 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
16 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
17 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
18 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
19 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
20 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
21 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
22 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
23 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
24 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
25 | Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
26 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
27 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
28 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
29 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
30 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
31 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
32 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
33 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
34 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
35 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
36 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
37 | Josh Bilicki, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford |
USA Network is set to provide live coverage of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race from Bristol Motor Speedway starting at 7:30 p.m. ET this evening.
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