Starting line-up plans announced for Darlington, Charlotte

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | 17 hours ago

The starting line-ups for the NASCAR national series races at Darlington and Charlotte will be set in various ways at Darlington and Charlotte.

Tuesday, NASCAR released a breakdown of how pit stall selection and the starting line-up will be determined for its races since qualifying will not occur. Only the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte will hold a traditional qualifying session.

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For the Cup Series race Sunday at Darlington, the sport’s first race since the coronavirus outbreak, pit selection will occur based on charter team owner points followed by open team owner points.

For each race, pit stalls will be picked in advance, and each team’s pit box will be in their stall when they arrive.

The starting line-up will be determined by a random draw in groups of 12.

• Positions 1-12: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
• Positions 13-24: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
• Positions 25-36: Random draw from charter teams in those positions in owner points
• Positions 37-40: Open teams in order of owners points in owner points

The Xfinity Series field for its race at Darlington on May 19 will have pit selection based on qualifying results from Phoenix, the last race.

The starting line-up will be determined by:

• Positions 1 -12: The first 12 NXS teams based on the Adverse Conditions Line Up Eligibility will be assigned starting positions 1st – 12th using a random draw.
• Positions 12 – 24: The next 12 NXS teams based on the Adverse Conditions Line Up eligibility will be assigned starting positions 12th- 24th using a random draw.
• Starting positions 25 – 36: The next 12 NXS teams based on the Adverse Conditions Line Up eligibility will be assigned starting positions 25th -36th using a random draw.
• Any vehicles that are eligible for the Event in position 37th – 40th will be assigned starting positions based on their order of eligibility.

The second Cup Series race at Darlington will line up the top 20 based on an invert from the first race. Positions 21-40 will line up in the finishing order from the first race, followed by new entries.

Pit stalls will be selected based on the results from the Sunday race, followed by new entries in order of points.

Moving to Charlotte, the Coca-Cola 600 will have qualifying. Pit stalls will be done based on the finishing positions from the second Darlington race, followed by new entries in order of points.

The Xfinity Series will pick pit stalls for its Charlotte race based on the finishing positions from Darlington, followed by new entries in order of points. The starting line-up will also be determined the same it was in Darlington.

On May 26, for the Truck Series race in Charlotte, pit selection will be made based on Las Vegas qualifying (the series’ most recent race). The starting line-up will be determined by:

• Positions 1 -10: The first 10 NGROTS Teams based on the Adverse Conditions Line Up Eligibility will be assigned starting positions 1st – 10th using a random draw.
• Positions 11 – 21: The next 11 NGROTS Teams based on the Adverse Conditions Line Up eligibility will be assigned starting positions 11- 21 using a random draw.
• Positions 22 – 32: The next 11 NGROTS Teams based on the Adverse Conditions Line Up eligibility will be assigned starting positions 22nd – 32nd using a random draw.
• Any vehicles that are eligible for the Event in position 33rd – 40th will be assigned starting positions based on their order of eligibility.

And for the second Cup Series race at Darlington, pit stall selection will be based on qualifying from the Coke 600, followed by new entries in order of points. (If qualifying for the 600 was rained out, pit selection would be determined by finishing order from the race.)

The starting line-up will also be done by an invert.

• Positions 1-20: Invert the top 20 from the May 24 race at Charlotte
• Positions 21-40: In finishing order from the May 24 race at Charlotte, followed by new entries

NASCAR has also announced there will be competition cautions and has modified its procedures. Officials will use competition cautions because there is no practice or qualifying.

The competition cautions will occur at or around the following laps:

NASCAR Cup Series:

• Darlington – May 17: Lap 30
• Darlington – May 20: TBD
• Charlotte – May 24: TBD
• Charlotte – May 27: TBD

NASCAR Xfinity Series:

• Darlington – May 19: Lap 15
• Charlotte – May 25: TBD

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series:

• Charlotte – May 26: TBD

Below are the procedures for the modified competition caution:

• Field will be frozen at the time of the competition caution
• Field will be assembled behind the pace car
• The running order lead lap/lap down will be established, and the free pass sent
• Wave around rule is not in effect
• Pit road will open to the top 20 – car must beat the pace car off pit road to retain freeze position
• Pit road will open to the next 20 – car must beat the pace car off pit road to retain freeze position
• Above pit cycle repeats – each team allowed to pit two times
• Re-establish lineup per freeze and restart race

Infractions under modified competition caution:

• Not beating the pace car off pit road results in loss of lap and restarting at tail of the field
• Pitting more than twice or out of sequence results in restarting at the tail of the field

All current pit road rules are in effect

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