NASCAR cancels Cup Series qualifying, practice for Coca-Cola 600
The Coca-Cola 600 will continue as scheduled according to NASCAR on Sunday, but Saturday’s practice and qualifying runs have been canceled. Rain forced NASCAR to find solutions for this weekend’s schedule and initially, the plan was to move up Saturday’s Xfinity Series race to earlier in the day — although now the entire slate of activities on Saturday have been canceled or postponed.
As a result of the canceled practice and qualifying runs, the starting lineup will be automatically set according to the rule book instead of performance in qualifiers. Charlotte Motor Speedway will see William Byron in the No. 24 car start from the pole position.
“Byron won the Cup Series’ most recent points race at Darlington Raceway and leads the series with three victories in 2023,” explained NASCAR’s official release. “The performance metric based on Darlington sets the starting lineup for the longest race of the schedule, factoring 15% of fastest lap time position, 25% of the driver’s final race finish position, 25% of the owner’s final race finish position and 35% of the owner points position.”
NASCAR Cup Series qualifying, practice runs canceled
Starting at the front of the pack on Sunday in order are Byron, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Of the first ten drivers in the field — Harvick, Keselowski, Hamlin and Busch are all former winners of the Coca-Cola 600. Hamlin is the current defending winner of the race after last year. Cup Series leader Ross Chastain will start the race 14th.
Alex Bowman will start the race in 31st position in his return to racing action after missing three races due to a fractured vertebra. Jimmie Johnson will start in the final position of the field of 37 drivers — his third start of the season. Johnson has won the Coca-Cola 600 four times in his own storied career.