Kyle Busch locks up Busch Pole Award for New Hampshire; see starting lineup

Kyle Busch has secured the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Busch will start his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota from the pole position at the 1.058-mile track. He is a three-time New Hampshire winner in the Cup Series, with his most recent victory there coming in 2017. He’s scheduled to start first for the first time this year in the Cup Series.

RELATED: Cup lineup | New Hampshire schedule | Cup Series standings

Jeb Burton wrapped up the Xfinity Series pole for Saturday’s Ambetter Get Vaccinated 200 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM) in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. He was the runner-up to Busch last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is also in action this weekend at Loudon with Saturday’s Whelen 100 (12:45 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Gold TrackPass).

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	Kyle Busch	18	Joe Gibbs Racing
2	Martin Truex Jr.	19	Joe Gibbs Racing
3	Chase Elliott	9	Hendrick Motorsports
4	Kurt Busch	1	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	Alex Bowman	48	Hendrick Motorsports
6	Denny Hamlin	11	Joe Gibbs Racing
7	Ryan Blaney	12	Team Penske
8	Tyler Reddick	8	Richard Childress Racing
9	Christopher Bell	20	Joe Gibbs Racing
10	Kyle Larson	5	Hendrick Motorsports
11	Brad Keselowski	2	Team Penske
12	Kevin Harvick	4	Stewart-Haas Racing
13	Austin Dillon	3	Richard Childress Racing
14	Matt DiBenedetto	21	Wood Brothers Racing
15	Joey Logano	22	Team Penske
16	William Byron	24	Hendrick Motorsports
17	Chris Buescher	17	Roush Fenway Racing
18	Bubba Wallace	23	23XI Racing
19	Chase Briscoe	14	Stewart-Haas Racing
20	Ross Chastain	42	Chip Ganassi Racing
21	Cole Custer	41	Stewart-Haas Racing
22	Aric Almirola	10	Stewart-Haas Racing
23	Michael McDowell	34	Front Row Motorsports
24	Erik Jones	43	Richard Petty Motorsports
25	Ryan Preece	37	JTG Daugherty Racing
26	Corey LaJoie	7	Spire Motorsports
27	Anthony Alfredo	38	Front Row Motorsports
28	Ryan Newman	6	Roush Fenway Racing
29	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	47	JTG Daugherty Racing
30	Justin Haley	77	Spire Motorsports
31	Daniel Suarez	99	Trackhouse Racing Team
32	BJ McLeod	78	Live Fast Motorsports
33	Garrett Smithley	53	Rick Ware Racing
34	Cody Ware	51	Petty Ware Racing
35	Josh Bilicki	52	Rick Ware Racing
36	Quin Houff	00	StarCom Racing
37	James Davison	15	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.