Chase Elliott wins the pole for the Southern 500

Chase Elliott will lead the field this Sunday in the Cook Out Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway to start the round of sixteen NASCAR Cup playoffs. He won the pole by virtue of a metric qualifying system that takes into account the drivers finishing positions from previous races, team owner points, and fastest laps of earlier races. Denny Hamlin will start next to Elliott in the front row. Here is the starting lineup for the Southern 500:

Row 1:

1. Chase Elliott

2. Denny Hamlin

Row 2:

1. William Byron

2. Alex Bowman

Row 3:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Martin Truex, Jr.

Row 4:

1. Ryan Blaney

2. Kevin Harvick

Row 5:

1. Clint Bowyer

2. Aric Almirola

Row 6:

1. Matt DiBenedetto

2. Austin Dillon

Row 7:

1. Joey Logano

2. Cole Custer

Row 8:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Kurt Busch

Row 9:

1. Bubba Wallace

2. John Hunter Nemechek

Row 10:

1. Michael McDowell

2. Chris Buescher

Row 11:

1. Christopher Bell

2. Jimmie Johnson

Row 12:

1. Brennan Poole

2. Tyler Reddick

Row 13:

1. Ty Dillon

2. Matt Kenseth

Row 14:

1. Cory LaJoie

2. Daniel Suarez

Row 15:

1. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

2. Erik Jones

Row 16:

1. Ryan Newman

2. Quin Houff

Row 17:

1. Timmy Hill

2. Ross Chastain

Row 18:

1. Ryan Preece

2. James Davison

Row 19:

1. JJ Yeley

2. Josh Bilicki

Row 20:

1. Joey Gase

#NASCARCup