For the seventh time in 25 oval race weekends this year, the NASCAR Cup Series was forced to cancel a qualifying session due to inclement weather, this time at Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday night's Bass Pro Shops Night Race, the third race on the 10-race postseason calendar.
As a result, NASCAR resorted to the qualifying metric to set the starting lineup for Saturday's 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol, Tennessee oval.
NASCAR began using a qualifying metric in 2020, in the absence of practice and qualifying, to set the starting lineups for races. Once qualifying returned on a full-time basis in 2022, the metric was used to determine qualifying orders, in reverse order. When qualifying is canceled, the metric is again used to determine the starting lineup.
In 2025, NASCAR simplified the metric, which had been unnecessarily complicated from 2020 to 2024. It is now based 30% on the owner standings and 70% on the results of the most recent race. Those variables are based on the car, rather than the driver.
However, things are slightly modified for the postseason.
The same metric is still used. However, when it comes to the qualifying order, the non-playoff drivers are slotted in first, before the 16 championship contenders are factored in, to ensure that they qualify at the end of the order. But when qualifying is canceled, NASCAR doesn't simply flip the qualifying order like they do during the regular season.
In other words, the 16 championship contenders are not guaranteed to start inside the top 16 when qualifying is canceled, even though they would have been the final 16 drivers in the qualifying order without a qualifying cancelation. When qualifying is canceled, NASCAR simply factors all drivers into the qualifying metric to set the starting lineup.
For Saturday's race, for instance, Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman was due to qualify 21st, last among the non-playoff drivers but before all 16 of the title contenders. But because Friday's qualifying session was canceled, he is set to start sixth, not 17th, since his metric score was sixth best among all drivers.
Again, it's the same metric, and the same starting lineup that you'd see during a regular season race following a cancelation of qualifying. You just can't flip the qualifying order to arrive at it like you can during the regular season.
Saturday night's Bass Pro Shop Night Race is set to be shown live on USA Network from Bristol Motor Speedway starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.
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