Carson Kvapil awarded O’Reilly Chase pole at Charlotte

Carson Kvapil was awarded the pole position for the Blue Cross NC 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 10.

The event’s starting lineup was determined by a qualifying metric formula that evaluated competitors’ finishing results from a previous-scheduled event and respective entries in the owner’s standings. This was due to this weekend’s on-track qualifying session at Charlotte being canceled due to inclement weather. 

Kvapil is coming off a strong runner-up result during last weekend’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Chase event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and is currently ranked in the runner-up spot in the 2026 Chase standings. Therefore, the 23-year-old native from Mooresville, North Carolina, was awarded the top-starting spot for Saturday’s fifth Chase event of this season at Charlotte. Kvapil is also currently trailing the points lead by 19 points as he has five Chase events remaining on his schedule, including this weekend at Charlotte, to make up his deficit and contend for his first series’ championship.

Kvapil will share the front row with Corey Day, the latter of whom won last weekend at Las Vegas following a dramatic duel with Kvapil in the closing laps. Jesse Love, Brent Crews, Sam Mayer, Taylor Gray, Austin Hill, Sheldon Creed, William Sawalich and Rajah Caruth complete the top-10 starting grid, respectively.

With eight of 12 Chase contenders (Kvapil, Day, Love, Mayer, Gray, Hill, Creed and Caruth) starting in the top 10 on the grid, the remaining Chasers that include Sammy Smith, Parker Retzlaff, Justin Allgaier and Brandon Jones will start 13th, 16th, 23rd and 28th, respectively.

With 39 competitors vying for 39 starting spots, all made the main event.

Charlotte – Starting Lineup:

1. Carson Kvapil
2. Corey Day
3. Jesse Love
4. Brent Crews
5. Sam Mayer
6. Taylor Gray
7. Austin Hill
8. Sheldon Creed
9. William Sawalich
10. Rajah Caruth
11. Jeremy Clements
12. Anthony Alfredo
13. Sammy Smith
14. Ryan Sieg
15. Harrison Burton
16. Parker Retzlaff
17. Dean Thompson
18. Brennan Poole
19. Austin Green
20. Carson Brown
21. Jeb Burton
22. Kyle Sieg
23. Justin Allgaier
24. Garrett Smithley
25. Patrick Staropoli
26. Matt DiBenedetto
27. Lavar Scott
28. Brandon Jones
29. Mason Maggio
30. Blaine Perkins
31. Joey Gase
32. Josh Bilicki
33. Ryan Ellis
34. Myatt Snider
35. Derek Lemke
36. Jake Finch
37. Dawson Cram
38. JJ Yeley

*Bold indicates Chase Drivers

The 2026 Blue Cross NC 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Saturday, October 10, at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN Radio and SiriusXM.