BRISTOL, Tenn. - The NASCAR Cup Series will conclude the opening round of its playoffs on Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers locked their positions in the starting lineup during qualifying on Friday. Kyle Larson turned in a lap of 15.142 seconds to lead the organization and will start fifth on Saturday. William Byron was next with a lap of 15.206, good enough for seventh. Alex Bowman's lap of 15.258 seconds put him in the 15th spot and rounding out the group was Chase Elliott, who ran a 15.271 to slot in 16th.
While Larson (+60), Byron (+39) and Elliott (+28) all enter Saturday night above the cutline, Alex Bowman will need to make up 35 points or win the race to advance to the Round of 12. Larson has been dominant at Bristol in recent events, leading 862 of 1,000 laps in rolling to victory lane both in the spring and in last fall's Round of 16 finale.
The opener of the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs was set for later on Friday night with practice and qualifying sessions held earlier in the day. Corey Day qualified 17th for the event after registering his first career top-10 finish in the series at WWT Raceway last week.
Here's a look at how the field will lineup on Saturday night in Thunder Valley.
ARTIFACT OF THE WEEK: Win a Kyle Busch hat, check out his Car of Tomorrow winner
NASCAR starting lineup for Saturday's race
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16, 15.117
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12, 15.12
- Austin Cindric, No. 2, 15.132
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54, 15.142
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 15.148
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11, 15.191
- William Byron, No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet, 15.206
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23, 15.208
- Josh Berry, No. 21, 15.214
- Christopher Bell, No. 20, 15.214
- Ricky Stenhouse, No. 47, 15.22
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77, 15.222
- Ross Chastain, No. 1, 15.239
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45, 15.246
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Open Road Sweeps Chevrolet, 15.258
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 15.271
- Justin Haley, No. 7, 15.272
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6, 15.273
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, 15.273
- Ryan Preece, No. 60, 15.281
- Chris Buescher, No. 17, 15.29
- Joey Logano, No. 22, 15.298
- Austin Dillon, No. 3, 15.332
- Zane Smith, No. 38, 15.344
- Michael McDowell, No. 71, 15.361
- Cole Custer, No. 41, 15.375
- Erik Jones, No. 43, 15.388
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88, 15.396
- Riley Herbst, No. 35, 15.397
- Noah Gragson, No. 4, 15.402
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19, 15.431
- Kyle Busch, No. 8, 15.432
- Austin Hill, No. 33, 15.48
- Cody Ware, No. 51, 15.6
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99, 15.612
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34, 15.631
- Ty Dillon, No. 10, 15.657
- Corey Heim, No. 67, 15.673
- Chad Finchum, No. 66, 16.054
RELATED: Check out Alex Bowman's special paint scheme for Bristol!
NASCAR practice results
- Justin Haley, No. 7, 15.307
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12, 15.307
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77, 15.309
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6, 15.312
- Michael McDowell, No. 71, 15.313
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19, 15.328
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11, 15.347
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 15.358
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54, 15.364
- Ross Chastain, No. 1, 15.397
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16, 15.401
- Christopher Bell, No. 20, 15.402
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23, 15.406
- Ryan Preece, No. 60, 15.419
- Riley Herbst, No. 35, 15.435
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Open Road Sweeps Chevrolet, 15.436
- Austin Cindric, No. 2, 15.448
- Zane Smith, No. 38, 15.458
- Cole Custer, No. 41, 15.471
- Ty Dillon, No. 10, 15.481
- Noah Gragson, No. 4, 15.481
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34, 15.492
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, 15.496
- Corey Heim, No. 67, 15.525
- William Byron, No. 24 RAPTOR Chevrolet, 15.537
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99, 15.545
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 15.57
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47, 15.583
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88, 15.583
- Austin Dillon, No. 3, 15.584
- Joey Logano, No. 22, 15.601
- Erik Jones, No. 43, 15.615
- Chris Buescher, No. 17, 15.626
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45, 15.636
- Austin Hill, No. 33, 15.676
- Kyle Busch, No. 8, 15.679
- Cody Ware, No. 51, 15.696
- Josh Berry, No. 21, 15.709
- Chad Finchum, No. 66, 15.87
RELATED: Check out William Byron's paint scheme designed by pediatric cancer patients
NASCAR Xfinity starting lineup for Friday
- Justin Allgaier, No. 7, 15.843
- Sam Mayer, No. 41, 15.937
- Aric Almirola, No. 19, 15.947
- Connor Zilisch, No. 88, 15.952
- Taylor Gray, No. 54, 15.976
- William Sawalich, No. 18, 16.022
- Harrison Burton, No. 25, 16.023
- Ryan Sieg, No. 39, 16.047
- Jesse Love, No. 2, 16.049
- Sheldon Creed, No. 00, 16.057
- Carson Kvapil, No. 1, 16.073
- Christian Eckes, No. 16, 16.083
- Stefan Parsons, No. 35, 16.107
- Sammy Smith, No. 8, 16.129
- Parker Retzlaff, No. 4, 16.152
- Dean Thompson, No. 26, 16.163
- Corey Day, No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 16.167
- Brennan Poole, No. 44, 16.168
- Jeb Burton, No. 27, 16.209
- Nick Sanchez, No. 48, 16.211
- Austin Hill, No. 21, 16.212
- Brandon Jones, No. 20, 16.215
- Leland Honeyman, No. 70, 16.226
- Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 24, 16.229
- Matt DiBenedetto, No. 99, 16.261
- Jeremy Clements, No. 51, 16.273
- Anthony Alfredo, No. 42, 16.305
- Brenden Queen, No. 11, 16.309
- Ryan Ellis, No. 71, 16.351
- Kyle Sieg, No. 28, 16.412
- Daniel Dye, No. 10, 16.434
- Josh Bilicki, No. 91, 16.544
- Josh Williams, No. 45, 16.579
- Logan Bearden No. 14, 16.659
- Carson Ware, No. 07, 16.736
- Joey Gase, No. 53, 16.738
- Austin Green, No. 32, 16.75
- Blaine Perkins, No. 31 (no time recorded)
RELATED: Every Hendrick Motorsports win at Bristol
NASCAR on TV this weekend
Friday, Sept. 12
- 7:30 - Xfinity Series race (CW)
Saturday, Sept. 13
- 7:30 p.m. - Cup Series race (USA Network)
Where is the NASCAR race this weekend?
The NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series, CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and ARCA Series are all racing at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Where is Bristol Motor Speedway?
Bristol Motor Speedway is located in eastern Tennessee, close to the Virginia border.