Road America winner Chase Elliott will start from the pole in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday (July 11).
The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver looks to rebound from an early retirement in his first trip to the 1.54-mile racetrack in March.
All four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas round out the top five, with Kyle Busch leading the way on the front row. Denny Hamlin begins third, Christopher Bell is fourth and Martin Truex Jr. lines up fifth.
Elliott’s Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson starts sixth, Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick is seventh and Kurt Busch rolls off eighth. Ross Chastain and Joey Logano complete the top 10 in the lineup.
As is the case at most tracks without regular qualifying this season, an equation based on drivers’ performance was used to set the lineup. Driver’s and car owner’s finishing position (weighted 25% each), fastest lap from previous race (15%) and rank in owner’s points (35%) were combined and whoever had the lowest number started first.
Atlanta Cup Lineup
The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart airs July 11 at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network and the Performance Racing Network radio.
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
“Takes the pole”????
Given to him it should read. I totally despise how the starting lineups are being set when there is no qualifying.
Couldn’t we at least have a one hour practice session snd use the practice speeds to set the starting lineups?
Another possibility is they could have a random draw for the top 20 finishers of the previous example of Brian’s product. That way, if Flubba happens to finish in the top 20 NA$CAR could find a way to give him the pole position, which is the only way he could ever get it.
Yes, the country is supposed to be getting back to normal, why is NASCAR dragging it’s heels.
I went to the tracks website and was surprised at the restrictions still in effect. Give it has lifted everything here in ga. Cup haulers don’t roll in until early Sunday morning!
So what’s next ajax give the entitled one a instant win.
Something, is starting to smell, fishey, an I don’t think it’s the fish !!!
Echo, don’t play at being me. I wouldn’t have made 3 grammatical errors in one sentence or misspelled “fishy.”
Maybe at this point, it has less to do with the pandemic than it does as a cost-saving measure for the teams. If the teams don’t have to be there until Sunday morning, it saves the expenses of two days on the road, plus the tires they use in practice and qualifying.
Maybe some crack investigative reporter could find that out for us rather than just posting info from other web sites, not to mention that anyone who really cares could figure out the starting lineup for themselves.
In any case, the weekly complaints about this are as stale as last month’s bread.
As a spectator, should I care how much it cost them to put on the show?
No. But since they have the cars, if they don’t put them out there it doesn’t matter what we think.
I never sit down and watch a football or hockey game and wonder about the finances or whether or not the owners are making a profit. Likewise I’ve never went to see a movie and worried about the poor movie studio.
That is why it isn’t left up to the owners. It’s NASCAR’s game and if they say there is qualifying and practices then the owners of the car will show up.
I frankly don’t see what practice or qualifying do to improve the “show.” When Chad Knaus coined the term “winning practice,” I thought NASCAR had reached a new low.
Bingo jobe it’s all about the money and always will be. It helps out the little guy and gives more family time to all. At least this way they should run harder to get a good starting spot. Unless your the entitled one and he knows he ‘ll be starting mid field or worst.