Rain cancels NASCAR Cup qualifying at Charlotte. Coke 600 starting lineup now set

Alex Zietlow, The Charlotte Observer on May 23, 2026

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A driver for Michael Jordan’s race team will start on the pole in North Carolina’s biggest race.

Rain canceled NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying Saturday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and as a result, Sunday’s starting lineup was set by the rule book. That means Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing will sit on the pole of the Coca-Cola 600. Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing will start next to him, in second.

O’Reilly Series star and Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill will run in the late Kyle Busch’s stead — not in the No. 8 car, but in the No. 33. Hill will start P13.

Overcast skies and precipitation started Friday evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, and scattered showers continued through Saturday. The bad weather has wreaked havoc on the rest of the on-track schedule — postponing the Truck Series race and canceling aspects of the O’Reilly schedule weekend.

The bad weather isn’t expected to slow on Sunday. The latest forecasts provided by AccuWeather.com show a 55% probability of precipitation and a 33% probability of thunderstorms — starting around noon and staying steady through midnight.

Still, at least for now, the Coca-Cola 600 will go on as planned at 6 p.m. Sunday.

The O’Reilly Series saw its qualifying session canceled on Saturday, too, and the Truck Series race was postponed from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday.

Starting lineup for Coke 600 Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Instead of a qualifying session, NASCAR weighs three competition-based metrics to set its starting lineup “by the rule book.” That includes owners’ points position, as well as the finish and the fastest lap from the most recently completed race.

Sunday’s starting lineup will be:

PositionDriverCar Number1Tyler Reddick452Ty Gibbs543Shane van Gisbergen974Michael McDowell715Chase Briscoe196Ryan Blaney127Chris Buescher178Austin Cindric29Austin Dillon310AJ Allmendinger1611Denny Hamlin1112Ryan Preece6013Austin Hill3314Daniel Suarez715John Hunter Nemechek4216Chase Elliott917Christopher Bell2018Kyle Larson519Zane Smith3820Todd Gilliland3421Erik Jones4322Cole Custer4123Carson Hocevar7724Bubba Wallace2325Connor Zilisch8826Brad Keselowski627Ross Chastain128Noah Gragson429Alex Bowman4830Riley Herbst3531William Byron2432Ricky Stenhouse Jr.4733Joey Logano2234Josh Berry2135Ty Dillon1036Timmy Hill6637Katherine Legge7838Cody Ware5139Corey Heim67