Tyler Reddick has been awarded the pole position for this year’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Saturday, September 5, to commence the 2026 NASCAR Chase for the Cup Series championship.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a qualifying metric formula that evaluated competitors’ results from the most recent event and owner standings from the NASCAR rulebook. This was due to lightning and inclement weather canceling the event’s practice and qualifying sessions scheduled for Saturday, September 5.
With the formula, Reddick, who is coming off a strong third-place result last weekend at Daytona International Speedway and is ranked in third place in the 2026 Chase standings, was awarded the pole position for the first Chase event of the 2026 Cup Series season.
Reddick, who has won five times this season, including the 68th running of the Daytona 500 and at Darlington earlier in mid-March, is seeded in third place in the Chase standings with 2,065 points. He is one of 16 competitors who are set to embark on a 10-race Chase stretch to contend for the championship, which would be a first for Reddick if he holds the points lead at the conclusion of this year’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway (11/8).
Reddick will share the front row with Daniel Suarez, another Chase contender who is coming off a runner-up result last weekend at Daytona. Ryan Preece, who raced his way into the Chase by notching his first Cup career victory at Daytona, will start in third place, and he will share the second row with Denny Hamlin, the latter of whom will commence the Chase with the top seed.
Michael McDowell will be the highest non-Chase starter of this year’s Southern 500 event in fifth place, while Chaser Austin Cindric, Chaser Chase Briscoe, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon and Alex Bowman completed the top-10 starting grid, respectively.
The remaining Chasers, including Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, and Chris Buescher, will start 11th, 13th, 17th, 18th, 20th, 24th, 25th, 28th, 34th, and 35th, respectively.
Front row. Top five. Top 10.
With 38 competitors vying for 38 starting spots, all made the main event.
Southern 500 – Starting lineup:
- Tyler Reddick
- Daniel Suarez
- Ryan Preece
- Denny Hamlin
- Michael McDowell
- Austin Cindric
- Chase Briscoe
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Austin Dillon
- Alex Bowman
- Christopher Bell
- Brad Keselowski
- Joey Logano
- Josh Berry
- Riley Herbst
- Cole Custer
- Bubba Wallace
- Chase Elliott
- John Hunter Nemechek
- William Byron
- Todd Gilliland
- Corey Heim
- Ross Chastain
- Ryan Blaney
- Kyle Larson
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Ty Dillon
- Ty Gibbs
- Noah Gragson
- AJ Allmendinger
- Connor Zilisch
- Austin Hill
- Zane Smith
- Carson Hocevar
- Chris Buescher
- Erik Jones
- Cody Ware
- Chad Finchum
*Bold indicates Chase Drivers
The 2026 Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, September 6, at 5 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM, and HBO MAX.
