For the third time this season, Aric Almirola will start on pole position after his name was drawn to lead the field for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race, the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Almirola, who started on pole by virtue of a random draw twice this season at Pocono Raceway in June and at Texas Motor Speedway in mid-July, comes into New Hampshire with a best result of third place in 2018. This will also mark the 10th time where the Floridian and his No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team will start in the top five by virtue of a random draw since May when NASCAR returned amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He is also ranked in eighth place in the regular-season standings and is 134 points above the top-16 cutline with seven races remaining until the 2020 Cup Playoffs commences.
Joining Almirola on the front row will be Denny Hamlin, the recent Cup Series winner last week at Kansas Speedway who finished in the runner-up spot at New Hampshire a year ago. Chase Elliott will start in third place followed by Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch. Clint Bowyer will start sixth followed by Kevin Harvick, the regular-season points leader and winner of the last two New Hampshire races. Alex Bowman, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch will start in the top 10 followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney.
Starting in positions 13-25 are rookie Tyler Reddick, rookie Cole Custer, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Erik Jones, Michael McDowell, Matt DiBenedetto, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Austin Dillon, Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon.
Starting in positions 26-38 are James Davison, Garrett Smithley, Joey Gase, J.J. Yeley, Ryan Preece, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie Quin Houff, Corey LaJoie, rookie Brennan Poole, rookie Christopher Bell, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Suarez and Timmy Hill.
The Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will occur on August 2 at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
