Brad Keselowski lands pole position for Sunday's Cup Series race at Kansas
Brad Keselowski, last weekend’s winner at Talladega Superspeedway, has claimed the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s Buschy McBusch Race 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Kansas Speedway.
Keselowski, who notched his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season Sunday, will start his No. 2 Team Penske Ford from the pole position.
RELATED: Kansas weekend schedule | 2021 Cup Series standings
John Hunter Nemechek is on the pole for Saturday’s Wise Power 200 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. It marks the third time in the last four races that Nemechek will start first in the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota.
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 | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports |
3 | Michael McDowell | 34 | Front Row Motorsports |
4 | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
5 | Matt DiBenedetto | 21 | Wood Brothers Racing |
6 | Austin Dillon | 3 | Richard Childress Racing |
7 | Ryan Blaney | 12 | Team Penske |
8 | Christopher Bell | 20 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
9 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
10 | Cole Custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
11 | Tyler Reddick | 8 | Richard Childress Racing |
12 | Ryan Preece | 37 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
13 | Bubba Wallace | 23 | 23XI Racing |
14 | Ryan Newman | 6 | Roush Fenway Racing |
15 | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
16 | Chris Buescher | 17 | Roush Fenway Racing |
17 | Chase Elliott | 9 | Hendrick Motorsports |
18 | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
19 | Chase Briscoe | 14 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
20 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
21 | Daniel Suarez | 99 | Trackhouse Racing Team |
22 | Anthony Alfredo | 38 | Front Row Motorsports |
23 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
24 | Ross Chastain | 42 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
25 | Alex Bowman | 48 | Hendrick Motorsports |
26 | Corey LaJoie | 7 | Spire Motorsports |
27 | Erik Jones | 43 | Richard Petty Motorsports |
28 | Kurt Busch | 1 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
29 | Joey Logano | 22 | Team Penske |
30 | BJ McLeod | 78 | Live Fast Motorsports |
31 | Justin Haley | 77 | Spire Motorsports |
32 | Kyle Larson | 5 | Hendrick Motorsports |
33 | Cody Ware | 51 | Petty Ware Racing |
34 | Quin Houff | 00 | StarCom Racing |
35 | Joey Gase | 15 | Rick Ware Racing |
36 | Garrett Smithley | 53 | Rick Ware Racing |
37 | Josh Bilicki | 52 | Rick Ware Racing |
38 | Austin Cindric | 33 | Team Penske |
39 | Matt Mills | 55 | BJ McLeod Motorsports |
Practice and qualifying are tentatively scheduled for eight Cup Series races this year. Busch Pole Qualifying was held for the season-opening Daytona 500 but 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.
