Chase Elliott has won the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Elliott, the series’ most recent winner last Sunday at Road America, will start his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from the pole position at the 1.54-mile track in his home state of Georgia.
RELATED: Atlanta, Knoxville schedule | Cup Series standings
Cup Series regular Kyle Busch won the pole for Saturday’s Credit Karma Money 250 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The Camping World Truck Series is also in action this weekend, making its debut at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway. That event will use qualifying heats to determine the starting lineup for Friday’s Corn Belt 150 (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).
As NASCAR adapted to COVID-19 protocols last season, practice and qualifying were eliminated at a majority of national-series events to limit at-track time, exposure and to cut race weekend costs. To determine starting lineups, competition officials used grouped draws, added inversions for weekend doubleheaders, and eventually adopted a performance-metrics formula. That metrics format remains in place this season, drawing on performance from both individual races and season-long results.
NASCAR’s metrics formula for 2021 weighs:
- 25 percent: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race
- 25 percent: Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race
- 35 percent: Team owner points ranking
- 15 percent: Fastest lap from the previous race
See the full lineup for Sunday’s Cup Series race below.
| Start pos. |
Driver | Car # | Team |
| 1 | Chase Elliott | 9 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 2 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 3 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 4 | Christopher Bell | 20 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 5 | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 6 | Kyle Larson | 5 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 7 | Tyler Reddick | 8 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 8 | Kurt Busch | 1 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 9 | Ross Chastain | 42 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 10 | Joey Logano | 22 | Team Penske |
| 11 | Chase Briscoe | 14 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 12 | Matt DiBenedetto | 21 | Wood Brothers Racing |
| 13 | Austin Dillon | 3 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 14 | Brad Keselowski | 2 | Team Penske |
| 15 | Ryan Blaney | 12 | Team Penske |
| 16 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 17 | Alex Bowman | 48 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 18 | Chris Buescher | 17 | Roush Fenway Racing |
| 19 | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 20 | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 21 | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 22 | Erik Jones | 43 | Richard Petty Motorsports |
| 23 | Cole Custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 24 | Bubba Wallace | 23 | 23XI Racing |
| 25 | Michael McDowell | 34 | Front Row Motorsports |
| 26 | Corey LaJoie | 7 | Spire Motorsports |
| 27 | Daniel Suarez | 99 | Trackhouse Racing Team |
| 28 | Justin Haley | 77 | Spire Motorsports |
| 29 | Ryan Newman | 6 | Roush Fenway Racing |
| 30 | Josh Bilicki | 52 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 31 | Cody Ware | 51 | Petty Ware Racing |
| 32 | Anthony Alfredo | 38 | Front Row Motorsports |
| 33 | Bayley Currey | 15 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 34 | Ryan Preece | 37 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 35 | Quin Houff | 00 | StarCom Racing |
| 36 | BJ McLeod | 78 | Live Fast Motorsports |
| 37 | Garrett Smithley | 53 | Rick Ware Racing |
Practice and qualifying are tentatively scheduled for eight Cup Series races this year. Two races remain with Busch Pole Qualifying on the schedule — Aug. 15 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course and the season-ending championship race Nov. 7 at Phoenix Raceway.