Drivers’ starting positions for the Instacart 500 (3:30 p.m. ET; Fox, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) were based on four factors:
Driver’s finishing position from the previous race (25 percent) Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race (25 percent) Team owner points ranking (35 percent) Fastest lap from the previous race (15 percent)
Below is the starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR race on the 1-mile track at Phoenix and how it was set without qualifying.
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Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Phoenix?
Brad Keselowski will line up on the pole after his performance last weekend at Las Vegas. He finished second in the Pennzoil 400 to Kyle Larson and won Stage 1 of the race. Keselowski is second in the Cup Series point standings, but he’s just two points ahead of Larson, who is in third place.
Larson will line up to Keslowski’s outside on the front row Sunday. (UPDATE: Larson will have to drop to the rear for pace laps because his car failed two prerace tech inspections Saturday. William Byron and Cody Ware will also have to go to the rear because their cars failed two inspections.)
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr. will start third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Hamlin leads the point standings thanks to three top-fives, three stage wins and 150 laps led, all series highs, in the first four races.
NASCAR starting lineup at Phoenix
The starting lineup for Sunday’s race at Phoenix was determined through a mathematical formula NASCAR adopted late in the 2020 season. The same procedure for setting lineups without qualifying is being used for the majority of races in 2021.
The formula produced this starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR race at Phoenix Raceway, the Instacart 500:
