NASCAR lineup at Richmond: Starting order, pole for Sunday’s race without qualifying

The starting lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway was set by applying the statistical formula NASCAR is using for the majority of its 2021 races.

Drivers’ starting positions for the Toyota Owners 400 (3 p.m. ET; Fox, TSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) were based on four factors:

NASCAR is conducting qualifying and practice for just eight Cup Series races in the 2021 season. Six races in that group remain, starting with the May 23 event at Circuit of the Americas, a road course outside Austin, Texas.

Below is the starting lineup, which was set without qualifying, for Sunday’s NASCAR race on the 0.75-mile track at Richmond Raceway.

Watch Sunday’s NASCAR race live with fuboTV (free 7-day trial)

Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Richmond?

Martin Truex Jr. is the polesitter for Sunday’s race based on NASCAR’s mathematical formula. Truex won last weekend’s rain-delayed race at Martinsville Speedway, making him the only multiple-race winner in the Cup Series after eight races in 2021.

Denny Hamlin, Truex’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, will start second. Hamlin is the series points leader despite not having won yet this year. He has seven top-five finishes in eight races. Hamlin led more than half the 500 laps at Martinsville but his car faded late and Truex took the checkered flag. Hamlin finished third as Chase Elliott rallied for a second-place finish.

The rest of the top 10 for the race at Richmond: Elliott, William Byron, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch.

NASCAR starting lineup at Richmond

The starting lineup for Sunday’s race at Richmond Raceway was determined through a mathematical formula NASCAR adopted late in the 2020 season. The formula produced this starting lineup for the Toyota Owners 400 without qualifying:

Driver Car No. Team Martin Truex Jr. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Denny Hamlin 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports William Byron 24 Hendrick Motorsports Joey Logano 22 Team Penske Kyle Larson 5 Hendrick Motorsports Ryan Blaney 12 Team Penske Christopher Bell 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Kevin Harvick 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Kyle Busch 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Austin Dillon 3 Richard Childress Racing Chris Buescher 17 Roush Fenway Racing Tyler Reddick 8 Richard Childress Racing Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Bubba Wallace 23 23XI Racing Matt DiBenedetto 21 Wood Brothers Racing Kurt Busch 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Ross Chastain 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Ryan Newman 6 Roush Fenway Racing Brad Keselowski 2 Team Penske Cole Custer 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Aric Almirola 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Michael McDowell 34 Front Row Motorsports Alex Bowman 48 Hendrick Motorsports Ryan Preece 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chase Briscoe 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Daniel Suarez 99 TrackHouse Racing James Davison 15 Rick Ware Racing Anthony Alfredo 38 Front Row Motorsports Erik Jones 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Josh Bilicki 52 Rick Ware Racing Quin Houff 00 StarCom Racing Cody Ware 51 Petty Ware Racing Justin Haley 77 Spire Motorsports BJ McLeod 78 Live Fast Motorsports Corey LaJoie 7 Spire Motorsports Garrett Smithley 53 Rick Ware Racing Austin Cindric 33 Team Penske