Across the entire 36-race 2024 and 2025 NASCAR Cup Series seasons, there were a total of four qualifying sessions canceled due to inclement weather.
There have now been the same number of canceled qualifying sessions in the first six weeks of the 2026 Chase postseason alone.
Saturday's qualifying session at Charlotte Motor Speedway for Sunday afternoon's Bank of America 400 became the ninth overall to be canceled due to rain this year.
As a result, the starting lineup for this 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer), which is set to be the first playoff race at Charlotte's oval since 2017 after it was contested on the track's Roval each year from 2018 to 2025, was set via the qualifying metric.
Note that playoff drivers are not separated from non-playoff drivers in the metric when the metric is used to determine the starting lineup, meaning that not all of the 16 championship contenders are set to start Sunday's race inside the top 16.
The metric is based 30% on the owner standings and 70% on the results of the most recent race, so it's Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson who is set to start on pole alongside Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe.
Whether or not the race will actually take place on Sunday, however, could be something to watch throughout the morning and into the early afternoon.
According to AccuWeather, there is an 88% chance of showers and thunderstorms from Isaias in Concord on Sunday, with the potential for flooding and tornadoes. Despite nine qualifying rainouts this season, there somehow haven't actually been any races rained out yet this year, although NASCAR did move up the start time for three races to avoid the threat of bad weather later in the day.
Here's the starting lineup for the Bank of America 400 at Charlotte.
Charlotte NASCAR Cup Series playoff starting lineup
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
2 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
3 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
4 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
5 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
6 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
7 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
8 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
9 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
10 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
11 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
12 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
13 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
14 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
15 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
16 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
17 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
18 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
19 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
20 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
21 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
22 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
23 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
24 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
25 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
26 | Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
27 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
28 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
29 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
30 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
31 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
32 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
33 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
34 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
35 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
36 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
37 | Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota |
38 | Gray Gaulding, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford |
39 | B.J. McLeod, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet |
Weather permitting, the Bank of America 400 is set to get underway shortly after 3:00 p.m. ET this afternoon, with live coverage from Charlotte Motor Speedway set to be provided by USA Network. Don't miss the sixth race on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series postseason schedule!
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