Kyle Larson was awarded the pole position for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 18.
The event’s starting lineup was initially going to be determined through an on-track qualifying session that consisted of a single-car, two-lap qualifying format. During the session, each of the 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots would cycle around Bristol twice to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the single fastest lap was awarded the pole position.
Friday’s qualifying session, however, was canceled due to inclement weather. As a result, the lineup was determined using a qualifying metric formula from the NASCAR rulebook. This resulted in Larson being awarded the first-place starting spot as he is coming off a victory in the series’ recent event at World Wide Technology Raceway on September 13 and is currently ranked in second place in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series’ Chase standings.
With the awarded pole, Larson, a two-time Bristol Night Race winner and the reigning two-time Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, will lead the field to the green flag in first place for a first time this season. With only a nine-point deficit behind points leader Denny Hamlin, Larson strives to return atop the points standings and maintain it for eight Chase events en route to defend his series’ title.
Larson will share the front row with Joey Logano, a 2026 Chase contender who finished in third place this past weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway and is currently tied for sixth place in the standings. Like Larson, Logano is a two-time Bristol Night Race winner (2014-15) as he attempts to become the eighth competitor to achieve at least three victories in the event.
Points leader Denny Hamlin along with William Byron and Carson Hocevar will start in the top five, respectively. Non-Chasers Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain occupy the sixth- and seventh-place starting spots, respectively, ahead of Chaser Austin Cindric, non-Chaser Austin Dillon and Chaser Bubba Wallace. The remaining Chase contenders that include Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece, Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney will start 12th, 13th, 16th, 20th, 23rd, 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th, respectively.
With 37 competitors vying for 37 starting spots, all made the main event.
Starting Lineup:
- Kyle Larson
- Joey Logano
- Denny Hamlin
- William Byron
- Carson Hocevar
- Alex Bowman
- Ross Chastain
- Austin Cindric
- Austin Dillon
- Bubba Wallace
- Brad Keselowski
- Christopher Bell
- Ty Gibbs
- Erik Jones
- Connor Zilisch
- Ryan Preece
- Cole Custer
- AJ Allmendinger
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Tyler Reddick
- Michael McDowell
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Chris Buescher
- Todd Gilliland
- Austin Hill
- Chase Briscoe
- Chase Elliott
- Daniel Suarez
- Ryan Blaney
- Cody Ware
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Josh Berry
- Ty Dillon
- Riley Herbst
- Zane Smith
- Noah Gragson
- Josh Bilicki
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
The 2026 Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Saturday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
