Persistent rain forced NASCAR to cancel Cup Series qualifying Saturday afternoon at North Wilkesboro Speedway, leaving the starting lineup for Sunday’s Window World 450 to be determined by the sport’s performance metric.
That puts defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney on the pole after he topped the metric heading into the weekend. Ty Gibbs will start alongside him on the front row, while Christopher Bell, Carson Hocevar and Tyler Reddick round out the top five.
The weather also created a much different challenge for several playoff contenders. Kyle Larson will have to work his way forward from 27th, Bubba Wallace rolls off 26th, Chase Briscoe starts 30th and AJ Allmendinger lines up 35th.
Although qualifying was canceled, NASCAR announced plans to still hold a practice session before Sunday’s race.
Full NASCAR Starting Lineup at North Wilkesboro
- Ryan Blaney
- Ty Gibbs
- Christopher Bell
- Carson Hocevar
- Tyler Reddick
- Erik Jones
- Denny Hamlin
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Chris Buescher
- Chase Elliott
- Joey Logano
- Austin Dillon
- Ross Chastain
- Austin Cindric
- William Byron
- Michael McDowell
- Daniel Suarez
- Todd Gilliland
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Cole Custer
- Ryan Preece
- Ty Dillon
- Brad Keselowski
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Alex Bowman
- Bubba Wallace
- Kyle Larson
- Josh Berry
- Zane Smith
- Chase Briscoe
- Noah Gragson
- Connor Zilisch
- Austin Hill
- Riley Herbst
- AJ Allmendinger
- Cody Ware
- Chad Finchum
Sunday’s Window World 450 serves as the semifinal round of NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge. With the field set by the performance metric instead of qualifying speeds, several drivers will have plenty of ground to make up once the green flag drops at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
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