Kevin Harvick, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champion, will start on pole position in the Cup Series regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, August 29.
Harvick, who is coming off a dominating victory in the second of a Dover doubleheader weekend on August 22-23 and earned Ford’s 700th Cup career win, will lead the field to the green flag for the third time this season as this marks the second time he was awarded the Busch Pole Award based on NASCAR’s new competition-based formula weighing the field/starting lineup for an upcoming race on three statistical categories: the results from a previous Cup race, current positioning in the owner points standings and the fastest lap from a previous Cup race. At the conclusion of Saturday’s race at Daytona, the driver of the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing will officially be awarded the regular-season championship trophy and 15 bonus points towards the Playoffs as he pursues his second Cup title.
Martin Truex Jr., who finished in second place in both Dover races last weekend, will start alongside Harvick on the front row as he continues to pursue his first Cup win at Daytona and on a superspeedway venue. Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski will start third and fourth while Aric Almirola, who clinched a spot in the Playoffs based on points last weekend, will round out the top-five starting grid.
Hendrick teammates William Byron and Jimmie Johnson, both of whom are separated by four points for the final spot to the Playoffs, will occupy the third row and in sixth and seventh. Teammate Alex Bowman will start in eighth place while Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin, winner of the first Dover race last weekend, will start in the top 10. Brothers Kyle and Kurt Busch, both of whom clinched spots for the Playoffs based on points will start 11th and 13th while Austin Dillon will start in between the Busch brothers. Clint Bowyer and Matt DiBenedetto, both of whom occupy two of the final three vacant spots to the Playoffs entering Daytona, will start in 14th and 15th.
Starting in positions 16-28 are rookie Cole Custer, Chris Buescher, rookie Tyler Reddick, Matt Kenseth, Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Newman, rookie Christopher Bell, rookie John Hunter Nemechek, Corey LaJoie, Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott and Ryan Preece.
Starting in positions 29-40 are Ty Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., rookie Brennan Poole, J.J. Yeley, rookie Quin Houff, Timmy Hill, Ross Chastain, Joey Gase, James Davison, Josh Bilicki and veteran Brendan Gaughan.
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale at Daytona, which will determine the 2020 Cup Playoff field, will occur on August 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
