NASCAR: Full Atlanta starting lineup if qualifying is canceled

As a die-hard NASCAR fan with over three decades of racing under my belt, I can’t help but feel a rush of excitement as we head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart! The track’s history and recent repave have made it an unpredictable yet thrilling addition to the playoff schedule.

The Atlanta Motor Speedway has been added as a venue for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. This upcoming Sunday afternoon will mark the start of the four-round, 10-race postseason with the running of the Quaker State 400, sponsored by Walmart.

One of the seven tracks featured on this year’s playoff schedule, measuring approximately 4 laps and 1.54 miles (2.278 kilometers), previously hosted a race during the 26-race regular season. Notably, Daniel Suarez from Trackhouse Racing Team claimed victory at this venue back in February, marking one of the closest three-wide finishes ever witnessed in the Cup Series.

Due to changes in its racing dynamics following the 2021 repaving, Atlanta is now classified as a superspeedway. Consequently, similar to Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, group qualifying is not employed at Atlanta.

Introduced in 2020, the qualification rule establishes the ranking order. For a comprehensive understanding of this criterion, please refer to this link.

Keep in mind that during the playoffs, the drivers competing for the championship are exclusively compared to each other when it comes to rankings in performance measurements. This ensures their starting positions will be lower than those of the non-playoff drivers in qualifying sessions.

If qualifying gets called off, the starting grid for a superspeedway race will just be reversed from the original qualifying order to establish the complete lineup instead.

In case qualifying doesn’t proceed as scheduled on Sunday afternoon, this is how the starting lineup for our 260-lap race might appear instead.

NASCAR at Atlanta: Starting lineup without qualifying

1st Place: Kyle Larson (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy)

The Weather Channel predicts that there is a 17% chance of rain on Saturday, but it seems we can expect mostly dry conditions for the qualifying session. Back in February, Michael McDowell from Front Row Motorsports claimed the top spot at the track by taking pole position.

USA Network is all set to air live qualifying from Atlanta Motor Speedway starting at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 7. Additionally, they will broadcast the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart, beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 8. Sign up for a free FuboTV trial now and ensure you won’t miss any of the excitement this weekend!

2024-09-06 13:32

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