NASCAR Cup Series qualifying rainouts have been fairly common throughout the 2026 season. It seems like even when qualifying is actually able to take place, it takes place amid an iffy weather forecast.
On Saturday at Darlington Raceway, the forecast was once again not ideal, and qualifying did end up being canceled for Sunday's postseason-opening Cook Out Southern 500, marking the sixth canceled oval qualifying session of the 2026 season.
As a result, the starting lineup for Sunday's 367-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped Darlington, South Carolina oval was determined by the qualifying metric. However, the process used is not the exact same as that which is used when qualifying for a regular season race is canceled.
The metric is still based on two variables: each car's rank in the owner standings (30%), and each car's finish in the most recent race (70%). That is unchanged.
NASCAR playoff qualifying rule not the same as regular season
But when it comes time to set the qualifying order, the process is different from what it is during the 26-race regular season.
Only the non-playoff drivers are factored in until all of them are slotted into the qualifying order, and then the playoff drivers come into play. Even if playoff drivers have worse metric scores than non-playoff drivers, they are guaranteed to qualify at the end of the line.
However, when qualifying is canceled, NASCAR does not simply reverse the qualifying order like they do during the regular season. At that point, all metric scores are combined, and then the order is reversed.
So, for instance, RFK Racing's Chris Buescher was lined up to qualify 23rd in the order, the first among the 16 playoff drivers. But when qualifying was canceled, he was not awarded the 16th starting position. Because his metric score was also worse than those of 19 non-playoff drivers, he is set to start 35th.
There are only eight playoff drivers actually set to start inside the top 16 following the cancellation of qualifying. A full starting lineup was confirmed shortly after Saturday's rainout.
USA Network's live coverage of the Cook Out Southern 500 is set to begin at 5:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 6. 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick is set to start on pole. Tune in and don't miss any of the action from Darlington Raceway to get NASCAR's first "Chase" postseason since 2013 underway!
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