Kyle Larson awarded Cup Chase pole at Charlotte

Kyle Larson was awarded the pole position for the Bank of America 400 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. The weather also canceled the qualifying session for Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Chase event at Charlotte and has postponed the event to Sunday, October 11, at 8 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

Larson is coming off a runner-up result during last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series’ Chase event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and is currently leading the 2026 Chase standings. Therefore, the reigning two-time Cup Series champion from Elk Grove, California, was awarded the top-starting spot for Sunday’s sixth Chase event of this season at Charlotte. Having won at Charlotte for the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 event in 2021, Larson will strive to add a fall Charlotte oval event victory to his resume as he remains in pursuit for his third championship in six seasons.

Larson will share the front row with Chase Briscoe, the latter of whom won last weekend’s Chase event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, William Byron, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott and Shane van Gisbergen complete the top-10 starting grid, respectively.

With nine of 16 Chase contenders (Larson, Briscoe, Reddick, Blaney, Cindric, Byron, Logano, Wallace and Elliott) starting in the top 10 on the grid, the remaining Chasers that include Carson Hocevar, Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher, Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell and Ryan Preece will start 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th and 24th, respectively.

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

Charlotte – Starting Lineup:

1. Kyle Larson
2. Chase Briscoe
3. Tyler Reddick
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Austin Cindric
6. William Byron
7. Joey Logano
8. Bubba Wallace
9. Chase Elliott
10. Shane van Gisbergen
11. Carson Hocevar
12. Denny Hamlin
13. Chris Buescher
14. Ty Gibbs
15. Daniel Suarez
16. Alex Bowman
17. Christopher Bell
18. AJ Allmendinger
19. Michael McDowell
20. Austin Dillon
21. Riley Herbst
22. Brad Keselowski
23. Noah Gragson
24. Ryan Preece
25. Erik Jones
26. Austin Hill
27. Josh Berry
28. Ross Chastain
29. John Hunter Nemechek
30. Cole Custer
31. Todd Gilliland
32. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
33. Ty Dillon
34. Zane Smith
35. Cody Ware
36. Connor Zilisch
37. Corey Heim
38. Gray Gaulding
39. BJ McLeod

*Bold indicates Chase Drivers

The 2026 Bank of America 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, October 11, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.