Darlington Raceway is set to get the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series "Chase" postseason underway on Sunday with the Cook Out Southern 500, marking a return to the original format that was used from 2004 to 2013 before the "win and in", knockout-style format took over from 2014 to 2025.
The metric to determine the qualifying order for Saturday's 367-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped Darlington, South Carolina oval remains the same as it's been throughout the entire 2026 season, and dating back to the start of the 2025 season.
It factors in each car's rank in the owner standings (30%) and its result in the most recent race (70%). But for the playoffs, the non-playoff drivers are slotted into the order first, ahead of the 16 playoff drivers, even if the playoff drivers have worse metric scores. This guarantees that the championship-eligible drivers will qualify at the end of the order for each Chase race.
As is the case on all intermediate ovals, each driver is set to make a single-car qualifying attempt at Darlington, and there is no second round shootout for pole.
Follow along with our Cook Out Southern 500 qualifying updates from Darlington.
NASCAR Cup Series starting lineup at Darlington
Qualifying canceled due to rain
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
2 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
3 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
4 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
5 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
6 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
7 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
8 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
9 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
10 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
11 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
12 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
13 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
14 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
15 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
16 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
17 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
18 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
19 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
20 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
21 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
22 | Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota |
23 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
24 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
25 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
26 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
27 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
28 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
29 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
30 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
31 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
32 | Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
33 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
34 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
35 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
36 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
37 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
38 | Chad Finchum, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford |
Tune in to USA Network on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. ET for live coverage of the Cook Out Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway, and catch all of the action from the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series "Chase" playoff opener!
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