For the first time since the August race at Watkins Glen International and for the only time during the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, the series is set to run a road course race this weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen has won four consecutive road or street course races, and he is the undisputed favorite to win Sunday's 109-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.32-mile (3.734-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina track.
But all eyes are on the 10 drivers trying to join Team Penske's Ryan Blaney and Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott in the round of 8, as four will be eliminated following the round of 12 finale.
NASCAR qualifying orders, or in this case qualifying groups, are determined by the new metric NASCAR introduced ahead of the 2025 season. This formula features only two variables and replaced the four-variable formula which was used from 2020 to 2024.
A full breakdown of the current metric can be found here.
It is worth noting that the 12 remaining playoff drivers are not factored into the formula until the other 25 drivers are all slotted into the order, guaranteeing that they are in spots 26 through 37, even if their metric scores are worse than those of any non-playoff drivers.
Of the 25 non-playoff drivers, one is a part-time driver. Garage 66 have entered the No. 66 Ford for Josh Bilicki this weekend. At Kansas Speedway this past weekend, NY Racing Team entered the No. 44 Chevrolet for J.J. Yeley, and they were the one and only part-time team on the grid, but they have not returned this weekend.
With qualifying groups used for road course races, this means that all playoff drivers are in the second group. Each group gets 20 minutes, and results from both groups are combined to set the full 37-car lineup. There is no second round shootout for the pole position like we've seen in the past.
Here's the full order for Saturday's qualifying session ahead of Sunday's Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
NASCAR Cup Series qualifying order at the Charlotte Roval
Group 1
1 - Josh Bilicki, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford
2 - Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
3 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
4 - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
5 - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
6 - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
7 - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
8 - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
9 - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
10 - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
11 - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
12 - Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
13 - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
14 - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
15 - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
16 - Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
17 - Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
18 - Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
19 - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Group 2
20 - Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
21 - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
22 - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
23 - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
24 - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
25 - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
26 - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
27 - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
28 - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
29 - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
30 - Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
31 - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
32 - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
33 - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
34 - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
35 - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
36 - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
37 - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
USA Network is set to provide live coverage of the Bank of America Roval 400 from the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 5. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!