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NASCAR starting lineup: Christopher Bell claims pole in qualifying for Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington

We’ve got updates as qualifying settles the starting lineup for the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 14, 2023 in Darlington, South Carolina. Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images

Final qualifying results: Christopher Bell claimed pole position for Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500. Denny Hamlin will join him on the front row. The full starting lineup is listed below.

Qualifying round 1, group B results: Tyler Reddick was the fastest Group B qualifier in the first round at Darlington. Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Chris Buescher rounded out the top five in the group and will advance to the second round.

Qualifying round 1, group A results: Christopher Bell was the fastest Group A qualifier in the first round at Darlington. Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, and Michael McDowell all will join him in the second round as the five fastest qualifiers.


The NASCAR Cup Series opens the 2023 playoffs this weekend at Darlington with the Cook Out Southern 500. The race is scheduled for Sunday, but qualifying will take place a day prior starting at 1:20 p.m. ET on USA.

Qualifying will last a little over an hour, running two rounds for the field of drivers. The first round will see the field split in half with each group running single-car, one lap qualifying. The top five in each group will advance to the second round where those ten drivers will get one more lap to secure pole position.

Martin Truex, Jr. claimed the regular season points title and heads into qualifying as the favorite to win the first race of the playoffs. He is installed at DraftKings Sportsbook with +500 odds to win. Kyle Larson follows at +600, and William Byron and Denny Hamlin are each +600. Defending race champ Erik Jones is +2800 to repeat.

Here is the full entry list for the Cook Out Southern 500 Cup Series race. We’ll update it with the full starting lineup as qualifying wraps.

2023 Cook Out Southern 500 starting lineup

Pos. Driver Car #
Pos. Driver Car #
1 Christopher Bell 20
2 Denny Hamlin 11
3 Tyler Reddick 45
4 Ryan Blaney 12
5 Brad Keselowski 6
6 Joey Logano 22
7 Kevin Harvick 4
8 Chris Buescher 17
9 Michael McDowell 34
10 Aric Almirola 10
11 Kyle Busch 8
12 Chase Briscoe 14
13 Chase Elliott 9
14 Austin Cindric 2
15 Carson Hocevar 42
16 A.J. Allmendinger 16
17 Ty Gibbs 54
18 Kyle Larson 5
19 Bubba Wallace 23
20 Erik Jones 43
21 Daniel Suarez 99
22 Corey LaJoie 7
23 William Byron 24
24 Alex Bowman 48
25 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 47
26 Ty Dillon 77
27 Ross Chastain 1
28 Austin Dillon 3
29 Justin Haley 31
30 Todd Gilliland 38
31 Martin Truex Jr 19
32 Harrison Burton 21
33 J.J. Yeley 15
34 Ryan Preece 41
35 Ryan Newman 51
36 B.J. McLeod 78