NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Darlington Raceway has been canceled due to inclement weather, meaning the starting lineup for Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 will be set without drivers making a qualifying lap.
The cancellation puts Tyler Reddick on the pole, with Daniel Suárez joining him on the front row for the opening race of NASCAR’s 10-race Chase.
NASCAR set the starting lineup using its performance metric after weather wiped out Saturday’s scheduled qualifying session.
Reddick entered the weekend as one of the favorites at Darlington, and now he’ll have perhaps the biggest advantage possible at a track where track position can be critical.
Here’s the complete starting lineup for Sunday’s Southern 500.
NASCAR Darlington Starting Lineup for Southern 500
Start Driver
1 Tyler Reddick
2 Daniel Suárez
3 Ryan Preece
4 Denny Hamlin
5 Michael McDowell
6 Austin Cindric
7 Chase Briscoe
8 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
9 Austin Dillon
10 Alex Bowman
11 Christopher Bell
12 Brad Keselowski
13 Joey Logano
14 Josh Berry
15 Riley Herbst
16 Cole Custer
17 Bubba Wallace
18 Chase Elliott
19 John Hunter Nemechek
20 William Byron
21 Todd Gilliland
22 Corey Heim
23 Ross Chastain
24 Ryan Blaney
25 Kyle Larson
26 Shane van Gisbergen
27 Ty Dillon
28 Ty Gibbs
29 Noah Gragson
30 AJ Allmendinger
31 Connor Zilisch
32 Austin Hill
33 Zane Smith
34 Carson Hocevar
35 Chris Buescher
36 Erik Jones
37 Cody Ware
38 Chad Finchum
Tyler Reddick Earns Pole After Darlington Qualifying Cancellation
Reddick’s spot at the front comes at a particularly important time.
Sunday’s Southern 500 marks the opening race of The Chase, with 16 drivers beginning the 10-race fight for the 2026 Cup Series championship.
Several championship contenders will start near the front. Hamlin rolls off fourth, Cindric sixth and defending Southern 500 winner Briscoe seventh.
Others have considerably more work ahead of them.
Blaney will start 24th, Larson 25th and Gibbs 28th, while Hocevar and Buescher face particularly difficult afternoons after being relegated to 34th and 35th, respectively, by the metric.
Reddick, meanwhile, will lead the field to green at a track where he has already enjoyed success this season. He won the spring Cup race at Darlington and enters the weekend among the leading championship contenders.
What Time Is the NASCAR Race at Darlington?
The Cook Out Southern 500 is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 6, at Darlington Raceway.
The race will air on USA Network, with streaming coverage available on HBO Max. MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the radio broadcast.
The Southern 500 will consist of 367 laps around the 1.366-mile Darlington Raceway, totaling just over 500 miles.
And after Saturday’s weather eliminated qualifying, Reddick will have the best view of the field when NASCAR’s championship chase officially begins.
NASCAR Darlington Starting Lineup: Full Grid After Qualifying Is Canceled