NASCAR qualifying: How to watch the starting lineup get set for the Xfinity 500

It’s qualifying day at Martinsville Speedway for the NASCAR Cup Series. The field is in Virginia for the Xfinity 500 with two spots on the line in next week’s Championship race at Phoenix Raceway.

The race is scheduled for Sunday, but qualifying will run on Saturday to set the starting lineup. Qualifying gets started at 1:20 p.m. ET and will air on USA Network. If you aren’t around a TV to watch qualifying, you can live stream it at NBC Sports Live or using the NBC Sports App. It will require a cable login with access to it. If you don’t have a cable login, you can try out YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, AT&T TV Now, FuboTV, or Sling TV.

Cup Series qualifying runs a little longer at Martinsville with a single-car, two-lap format. The field will be split in half and each driver will get two laps to put together their fastest lap time. The five fastest drivers in Group A and the five fastest drivers in Group B will advance to the second round. The drivers who don’t advance will fill out the starting lineup starting at No. 11 based on their qualifying time. The ten drivers that advance will compete for pole position and the rest of the top ten.

Denny Hamlin enters qualifying as the favorite to win Sunday’s race with +300 odds at DraftKings Sportsbook. Kyle Larson follows at +650, William Byron is +750, Martin Truex, Jr. is +850, and Ryan Blaney is +900.

Larson, Byron and Blaney join Christopher Bell as the four drivers currently projected to advance to next week’s Championship race in Phoenix. Bell and Larson clinched advancement with wins the past two weeks, while Byron and Blaney currently lead the points race. Tyler Reddick, Truex, Jr., Hamlin, and Chris Buescher are the four drivers on the outside looking in at the Championship race.

How to watch qualifying for the Xfinity 500

Date: Saturday, October 28
Time: 1:20 p.m. ET
TV channel: USA Network
Live stream: NBC Sports Live, NBC Sports App

Entry list