Rain Cancels Cup Qualifying at Loudon, Elliott on Pole

NASCAR.com

LOUDON, NH – RIS – Persistent rain has cancelled NASCAR qualifying today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The field for Sunday’s race was set by the NASCAR performance metric, which is based in large part on the driver’s most recent finishing position and his team’s rank in owner points.

Chase Elliott's third place at Iowa last week helped him take over the series points lead, which contributed to the lowest metric score and puts him on the pole this weekend.

New Hampshire has been a difficult track for Elliott since he entered the Cup series. In 10 series starts, he has three top-10 finishes, with a best finish of second in the 2022 season, the year he won his first Cup championship.

“The trick is being good enough to get to the Round of 8 and really try to be spectacular those last three or four weeks,” Elliott said. “ So, it’s really just about having a solid enough base to get you through there and really trying to hit home runs in those last few races.”

Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney will line up second, followed by Elliott’s HMS teammate, William Byron. Christopher Bell starts third and fellow HMS teammate Alex Bowman rounds out the top five. Completing the top 10 starting lineup is Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski and Josh Berry.

Starting Line Up: USA TODAY 301 - New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Pos, Driver, Car
1) Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet
2) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford
3) William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet
4) Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota
5) Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet
6) Joey Logano, No. 22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford
7) Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Reser's Fine Foods Toyota
8) Ross Chastain, No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet
9) Brad Keselowski, No. 6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford
10) Josh Berry #, No. 4 Miner DOCKS DOORS AND MORE Ford
11) Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevrolet
12) Tyler Reddick, No. 45 SiriusXM Toyota
13) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/Kleenex 100 Years Chevrolet
14) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota
15) Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford
16) Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Grillo's Pickles Ford
17) Bubba Wallace, No. 23 DraftKings Toyota
18) Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota
19) Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
20) Carson Hocevar #, No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet
21) Noah Gragson, No. 10 Overstock.com Ford
22) Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
23) Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Zep Ford
24) Justin Haley, No. 51 Fraternal Order of Eagles Ford
25) Michael McDowell, No. 34 Long John Silver's Ford
26) Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Schluter Systems Chevrolet
27) Harrison Burton, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford
28) John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Family Dollar Toyota
29) Austin Cindric, No. 2 Autotrader Ford
30) Kyle Busch, No. 8 FICO Chevrolet
31) Ryan Preece, No. 41 Mohawk Northeast Ford
32) Erik Jones, No. 43 Dollar Tree Toyota
33) Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Poppy Bank Chevrolet
34) Zane Smith #, No. 71 Focused Health Chevrolet
35) Kaz Grala #, No. 15 MEAT N' BONE Ford
36) Ty Dillon(i), No. 16 Car Bravo Chevrolet
(i) Ineligible for driver points, (#) Rookie

Track Race Record: Jeff Burton, 07/13/97, 2:42:35, 117.134 mph