The starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway was established by applying the statistical formula that NASCAR is using for the majority of its 2021 races.
Driver starting positions for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 (3 p.m. ET; Fox, TSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) were based on four factors:
- Final position of the driver from the previous race (25 percent)
- Final position of car owner from previous race (25 percent)
- Team Owner’s Point Rating (35 percent)
- Fastest lap of the previous race (15 percent)
Below is the starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR race at the 1.5-mile track in Atlanta, which was established without qualification.
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Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Atlanta?
Denny Hamlin, the Cup Series points leader after five races, is the pole winner according to math. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr., last weekend’s winner at Phoenix, will start second.
Hamlin leads the series with four top-five finishes and three stage wins, but he has yet to win a race this season.
The rest of the top 10 after Hamlin and Truex: Joey Logano (Team Penske), Brad Keselowski (Team Penske), Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports), Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports), Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing), Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing), William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports) and Ryan Blaney (Team Penske).
NASCAR starting lineup in Atlanta
The starting lineup for Sunday’s race at Atlanta was determined by a mathematical formula that NASCAR adopted at the end of the 2020 season. The formula produced this starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the QuikTrip 500 from Folds of Honor:
| Initial Pos. | Driver | Car No. | Team |
| 1 | Denny Hamlin | eleven | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| two | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 3 | Joey logano | 22 | Penske Team |
| 4 | Brad Keselowski | two | Penske Team |
| 5 | Chase elliott | 9 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 6 | Kyle larson | 5 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 7 | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 8 | Christopher bell | twenty | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 9 | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 10 | Ryan blaney | 12 | Penske Team |
| eleven | Kurt busch | 1 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 12 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 13 | Austin dillon | 3 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 14 | Alex Bowman | 48 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| fifteen | Bubba wallace | 2. 3 | 23XI Races |
| sixteen | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 17 | Chris buescher | 17 | Roush Fenway racing |
| 18 | Michael McDowell | 3. 4 | Front row motorsports |
| 19 | Kyle busch | 18 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| twenty | Matt DiBenedetto | twenty-one | Wood Brothers Racing |
| twenty-one | Ross Chastain | 42 | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 22 | Erik jones | 43 | Richard Petty Motorsports |
| 2. 3 | Ryan Preece | 37 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 24 | Chase briscoe | 14 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 25 | Daniel Suarez placeholder image | 99 | TrackHouse Racing Team |
| 26 | Justin haley | 77 | Spire Motorsports |
| 27 | Cole custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 28 | Ryan newman | 6 | Roush Fenway racing |
| 29 | Tyler reddick | 8 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 30 | Corey lajoie | 7 | Spire Motorsports |
| 31 | BJ McLeod | 78 | Live fast motor sports |
| 32 | Anthony Alfredo | 38 | Front row motorsports |
| 33 | Cody Ware | 51 | Petty Ware Racing |
| 3. 4 | James davison | fifteen | Rick Ware Racing |
| 35 | what houff | 00 | StarCom Racing |
| 36 | Joey gase | 53 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 37 | Josh bilicki | 52 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 38 | Timmy hill | 66 | Motorsport business management |
| 39 | Austin cindric | 33 | Penske Team |
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.