The NASCAR Cup Series has a lot to live up to today, Sunday, February 22, after a brilliant Truck and O'Reilly Series double-header on Saturday at EchoPark Speedway.
Kyle Busch took the victory ahead of Carson Hocevar in a shortened Truck race, and will start 14th in Sunday's race as he looks to build on that momentum and snap a 94-race winless streak in Cup action.
A rained out qualifying session means that the starting grid was set by NASCAR's Performance Metric, made up as follows. 15% of a fastest lap time position, 25% of the driver’s previous race finish position, 25% of the owner’s previous race finish position, and 35% of the owner points position.
With just one race run so far this season, that leaves things almost entirely based on how teams did at the Daytona 500 – putting Tyler Reddick on pole alongside Joey Logano, but leaving a number of title challengers well down the order.
Two of last year's Championship 4 will start down in the bottom ten, with Denny Hamlin kicking off in 29th and Chase Briscoe all the way down as the 34th starter.
Team Penske didn't get out unscathed despite Logano's good fortune, with Ryan Blaney starting on the 11th row and Christopher Bell slotting in between Hamlin and Briscoe in 32nd.
The No. 3 of Austin Dillon and the No. 78 of B.J. McLeod both failed inspection twice on Friday evening, meaning that their crew chiefs were ejected and each lost pit selections for the race. They passed on a third time through.
With all of that said, let's take a look at the full starting lineup below.
NASCAR RACE TODAY: Atlanta start times, schedule, how to watch live on TV and stream
NASCAR Cup Series Atlanta starting grid
| Pos. | Car No. | Driver | Organization (Manufacturer) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing (Toyota) |
| 2 | #22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske (Ford) |
| 3 | #47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Hyak Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 4 | #9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 5 | #6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing (Ford) |
| 6 | #38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) |
| 7 | #17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing (Ford) |
| 8 | #35 | Riley Herbst | 23XI Racing (Toyota) |
| 9 | #23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing (Toyota) |
| 10 | #21 | Josh Berry | Wood Brothers Racing (Ford) |
| 11 | #4 | Noah Gragson | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) |
| 12 | #7 | Daniel Suarez | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 13 | #24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 14 | #8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 15 | #77 | Carson Hocevar | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 16 | #5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 17 | #10 | Ty Dillon | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 18 | #51 | Cody Ware | Rick Ware Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 19 | #16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 20 | #71 | Michael McDowell | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 21 | #1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 22 | #12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske (Ford) |
| 23 | #43 | Erik Jones | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) |
| 24 | #42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) |
| 25 | #54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) |
| 26 | #60 | Ryan Preece | RFK Racing (Ford) |
| 27 | #41 | Cole Custer | Haas Factory Team (Chevrolet) |
| 28 | #97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 29 | #11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) |
| 30 | #2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske (Ford) |
| 31 | #88 | Connor Zilisch | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 32 | #20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) |
| 33 | #3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) |
| 34 | #19 | Chase Briscoe | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) |
| 35 | #34 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) |
| 36 | #48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 37 | #78 | B.J. McLeod | Live Fast Motorsports (Chevrolet) |
| 38 | #44 | J.J. Yeley | NY Racing Team (Chevrolet) |
