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
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 - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
6 - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
7 - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
8 - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
9 - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
10 - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
11 - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
12 - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
13 - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
14 - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
15 - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
16 - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
17 - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
18 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
19 - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
20 - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
21 - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
22 - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
23 - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
24 - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet
25 - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
26 - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
27 - Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota
28 - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
29 - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
30 - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
31 - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
32 - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
33 - Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
34 - Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
35 - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports 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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