NASCAR starting lineup: Rain washes out qualifying, Christopher Bell gets pole at Pala Casino 400

UPDATE: Practice and qualifying for the Pala Casino 400 canceled due to rain. The Fontana race is still scheduled to run on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Christopher Bell was awarded pole position for the race and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. joins him on the front row. The starting lineup was set by performance metrics based on last week’s Daytona 500. The formula factored each driver’s fastest lap time position (15%), their final race position (25%), the owner’s final race position (25%), and the owner’s points position (35%).

The full starting lineup is listed below.

NASCAR qualifying returns on Saturday, February 25 in Fontana, California for the Pala Casino 400. The race runs at the Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, but the day before, qualifying is determining the starting lineup. The qualifying event starts at 2:50 p.m. ET on FS1 and will run approximately 90 minutes.

A week ago, NASCAR ran a multi-day qualifying process to set the lineup for the Daytona 500. This week, qualifying will wrap in 90 minutes with two rounds of single-car racing. The Pala Casino 400 features 36 drivers and they will be split into two groups for the first round of qualifying. Each driver races one lap around the track and the five fastest drivers in each of the two groups advance to a final round. Those ten drivers that advance then run another lap to determine pole position. The fastest starts first, the second fastest joins the fastest on the front row, the third and fourth fastest are on the second row, and so forth.

Kyle Larson is the race favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook ahead of qualifying. He is the defending champ in Fontana and has +650 odds to repeat. Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott follow at +800, and Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, and Christopher Bell are each +1000 to win.

Here is the full entry list for the Pala Casino 400 Cup Series race. We’ll update it with the full starting lineup as qualifying wraps.

Pala Casino 400 entry list