Qualifying report

NASCAR Cup Daytona II

NASCAR Cup qualifying cancelled due to lightning at Daytona, Ryan Blaney on pole

Inclement weather has forced NASCAR to cancel both NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series qualifying at Daytona

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Aug 23, 2025, 6:53 AM

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Storm clouds at Daytona during the 2018 season

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

With 40 Cup cars and 38 Xfinity cars entered, there will be no teams sent home after Friday's rainout. The field for both races will be set by NASCAR’s standard metric, an average that is calculated from four parts:

15% of fastest lap times from the previous race;
25% of the driver’s finishing position from the previous race;
25% of the owner’s final race finishing position from the previous race;
35% of the owner's current points position

As a result, Ryan Blaney will lead the field to the green flag in No. 12 Team Penske Ford on Saturday night. He will be joined on the front row by Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, who enters the regular season finale holding the 16th and final playoff spot.

Kyle Larson will start third, Joey Logano fourth, and Austin Cindric fifth. Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, and Brad Keselowski will fill out the remainder of the top ten.

Despite being listed eighth in the starting lineup, Byron will have to go to the rear of the field after NASCAR caught Hendrick Motorsports making unapproved adjustments after inspection. As a result, the crew chief for the No. 24 has been ejected and Byron will have to serve a stop-and-go penalty during the race.

Full NASCAR Cup lineup

Pos. Driver 1 Ryan Blaney 2 Alex Bowman 3 Kyle Larson 4 Joey Logano 5 Austin Cindric 6 Denny Hamlin 7 Austin Dillon 8 William Byron 9 Chase Briscoe 10 Brad Keselowski 11 Josh Berry 12 Daniel Suarez 13 Zane Smith 14 Kyle Busch 15 Christopher Bell 16 Carson Hocevar 17 Shane van Gisbergen 18 Ty Gibbs 19 Ross Chastain 20 Michael McDowell 21 AJ Allmendinger 22 Bubba Wallace 23 Ty Dillon 24 Chris Buescher 25 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 26 Erik Jones 27 Tyler Reddick 28 Todd Gilliland 29 Cole Custer 30 Chase Elliott 31 Ryan Preece 32 Noah Gragson 33 Riley Herbst 34 John Hunter Nemechek 35 Cody Ware 36 Austin Hill 37 Justin Haley 38 BJ McLeod 39 Casey Mears 40 Joey Gase

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