Keselowski earns pole position for Sunday's Cup Series throwback race at Darlington
Brad Keselowski has claimed the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s Goodyear 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Darlington Raceway.
Keselowski will start his No. 2 Team Penske Ford from the pole position for the second week in a row. He finished third last weekend at Kansas Speedway and won the race before that at Talladega Superspeedway.
RELATED: Darlington weekend schedule | 2021 Cup Series standings
John Hunter Nemechek’s No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota is on the pole for Friday’s LiftKits4Less.com 200 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and AJ Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet is on the pole for Saturday’s Steakhouse Elite 200 (1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
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 | Brad Keselowski | 2 | Team Penske |
2 | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
3 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
4 | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
5 | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports |
6 | Chase Elliott | 9 | Hendrick Motorsports |
7 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
8 | Matt DiBenedetto | 21 | Wood Brothers Racing |
9 | Austin Dillon | 3 | Richard Childress Racing |
10 | Tyler Reddick | 8 | Richard Childress Racing |
11 | Chris Buescher | 17 | Roush Fenway Racing |
12 | Joey Logano | 22 | Team Penske |
13 | Michael McDowell | 34 | Front Row Motorsports |
14 | Kyle Larson | 5 | Hendrick Motorsports |
15 | Daniel Suarez | 99 | Trackhouse Racing Team |
16 | Ryan Blaney | 12 | Team Penske |
17 | Kurt Busch | 1 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
18 | Ross Chastain | 42 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
19 | Alex Bowman | 48 | Hendrick Motorsports |
20 | Ryan Newman | 6 | Roush Fenway Racing |
21 | Christopher Bell | 20 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
22 | Chase Briscoe | 14 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
23 | Bubba Wallace | 23 | 23XI Racing |
24 | Cole Custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
25 | Anthony Alfredo | 38 | Front Row Motorsports |
26 | Erik Jones | 43 | Richard Petty Motorsports |
27 | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
28 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
29 | Ryan Preece | 37 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
30 | Corey LaJoie | 7 | Spire Motorsports |
31 | Justin Haley | 77 | Spire Motorsports |
32 | BJ McLeod | 78 | Live Fast Motorsports |
33 | Cody Ware | 51 | Petty Ware Racing |
34 | JJ Yeley | 53 | Rick Ware Racing |
35 | Quin Houff | 00 | StarCom Racing |
36 | James Davison | 15 | Rick Ware Racing |
37 | Josh Bilicki | 52 | Rick Ware Racing |
Practice and qualifying are tentatively scheduled for eight Cup Series races this year. Busch Pole Qualifying was held for the season-opening Daytona 500, and rain canceled the qualifying races for Bristol Motor Speedway‘s dirt-track race. The next Cup Series event with qualifying scheduled is the May 23 debut at the Circuit of The Americas road course in Austin, Texas.
