Brad Keselowski will lead the field to green in Sunday’s Cup race at Darlington Raceway after he was awarded the pole in a random draw Thursday night at the NASCAR R&D Center.
He will be joined on the front row by Alex Bowman.
The race is NASCAR’s first event since March because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Ryan Newman, making his return after being injured in the Daytona 500 in February, will start 21st. Matt Kenseth, making his first start since the 2018 season finale, will start 12th in the 40-car field.
Typically, NASCAR sets the starting line by car owner points when it can’t run qualifying. That would have put Kevin Harvick on the pole. Harvick will start sixth with the draw. NASCAR officials added the draw for this event.
Darlington starting lineup:
1. Brad Keselowski
2. Alex Bowman
3. Matt DiBenedetto
4. Kyle Busch
5. Aric Almirola
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Joey Logano
10. Denny Hamlin
11.ChaseElliott
12. Matt Kenseth
13. Clint Bowyer
14. Cole Custer
15. Martin Truex Jr.
16. Austin Dillon
17. Bubba Wallace
18. William Byron
19. Corey LaJoie
20. Erik Jones
21. Ryan Newman
22. Kurt Busch
23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
24. Chris Buescher
25. Ryan Preece
26. Garrett Smithley
27. Quin Houff
28. Christopher Bell
29. Tyler Reddick
30. J.J. Yeley
31. Michael McDowell
32. Joey Gase
33. Ty Dillon
34. John Hunter Nemechek
35. Brennan Poole
36. Reed Sorenson
37. Daniel Suarez
38. Timmy Hill
39. B.J. McLeod
40. Josh Bilicki
Darlington Cup starting lineup
The format for setting the lineup was:
Positions 1-12 were set by a random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points.
Positions 13-24 were set by a random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points.
Positions 25-36 were set by a random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points.
Positions 37-40 will be for non-chartered teams based in order of owner points.
