NASCAR Cup Series starting lineup: Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson fill out second row at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. – With a new horsepower and aerodynamics package in the NASCAR Cup Series for Darlington Raceway

this weekend, there are a myriad of uncertainties teams throughout the garage will face come race time Sunday

.

One thing is for sure: a solid starting spot could go a long way in avoiding the chaos that figures to come.

The good news for Hendrick Motorsports ? All four of the organization’s Chevrolets locked down top-15 qualifying spots on Saturday. The brigade was led by Chase Elliott, whose single-lap time of 29.319 seconds earned the third starting spot where he’ll line up alongside teammate Kyle Larson in fourth (29.377). William Byron will start 13th while Justin Allgaier, who’s filling in for Alex Bowman

, will roll off 15th.

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Both Larson

and Byron

are past winners at Darlington while Allgaier has visited victory lane three times in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series. Elliott

(fifth), Larson and Byron (tied for seventh) enter the weekend in solid shape in terms of the Cup Series points standings

.

Sunday’s race is set for a 3 p.m. start time and will air on FS1.

Here’s a look at how the field will line up for the weekend’s main event.

NASCAR qualifying results

1. Tyler Reddick, No. 45, 29.072
2. Bubba Wallace, No. 23, 29.196
3. Chase Eliott No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet, 29.319
4. Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 29.377
5. Brad Keselowski, No. 6, 29.424
6. Chris Buescher, No. 17, 29.443
7. Ryan Blaney, No. 12, 29.476
8. Kyle Busch, No. 8, 29.478
9. Denny Hamlin, No. 11, 29.5
10. Austin Dillon, No. 3, 29.538
11. Daniel Suarez, No. 7, 29.55
12. Austin Cindric, No. 2, 29.57
13. William Byron, No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet, 29.601
14. Riley Herbst, No. 35, 29.613
15. Justin Allgaier, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 29.624
16. Carson Hocevar, No. 77, 29.677
17. Ryan Preece, No. 60, 29.708
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47, 29.721
19. Zane Smith, No. 38, 29.723
20. Michael McDowell, No. 71, 29.731
21. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, 29.776
22. Christopher Bell, No. 20, 29.785
23. Chase Briscoe, No. 19, 29.819
24. Erik Jones, No. 43, 29.825
25. Ross Chastain, No. 1, 29.847
26. Josh Berry, No. 21, 29.878
27. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16, 29.885
28. Ty Gibbs, No. 54, 29.889
29. Joey Logano, No. 22, 29.912
30. Noah Gragson, No. 4, 29.98
31. Todd Gilliland, No. 34, 29.997
32. Connor Zilisch, No. 88, 30.091
33. Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97, 30.125
34. Cody Ware, No. 51, 30.309
35. Cole Custer, No. 41, 30.422
36. Ty Dillon, No. 10, 30.584
37. Timmy Hill, No. 66, 32.044

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What channel is the NASCAR race on today?

(All times eastern)

Saturday, March 21

• 2:30 – Cup Series practice, Prime Video
• 3:40 – Cup Series qualifying, Prime Video
• 5:30 – NOAPS race, CW

Sunday, March 15

• 3 p.m. – Cup Series race, FS1

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Where is NASCAR racing this weekend?

The NASCAR Cup and NOAPS are at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, this weekend.

NASCAR points standings after Las Vegas

Driver

Points

1. Tyler Reddick

255

2. Bubba Wallace

194

3. Ryan Blaney

188

4. Denny Hamlin

177

5. Chase Elliott

168

6. Christopher Bell

164

T-7. Kyle Larson

157

T-7. William Byron

157

9. Chris Buescher

146

10. Ty Gibbs

140

11. Joey Logano

135

12. Brad Keselowski

127

13. Ryan Preece

125

14. Michael McDowell

122

15. Carson Hocevar

118

T-16. Shane van Gisbergen

117

T-16. Daniel Suarez

117

T-16. AJ Allmendinger

117

———————

——

19. Zane Smith

108

20. Ross Chastain

94