After spending three-plus hours waiting out the nagging precipitation in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, NASCAR has thrown in the towel, cancelling the remainder of on-track activity from Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 300 - originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon - has been postponed, and will be contested prior to the start of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series event, weather permitting.
However, practice and qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 - which was scheduled to take place at 7:00pm ET on Saturday - has been completely washed out, and will not be rescheduled.
The starting lineup for Sunday's 600-miler will be determined by the Rule Book, which dictates the usage of the Performance Metric system, which balances previous race's finish, fastest lap, and current owner point rank.
William Byron and Kevin Harvick, the top-two finishers from the most recent points-paying event for the NASCAR Cup Series at Darlington, will lead the field to green for the longest race of the season.
Brad Keselowski will start his RFK Racing Ford Mustang from third-place, while being joined by Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch inside the top-five to start Sunday's 600-mile contest.
Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will round out the opening five rows in the starting order for what is considered to be one of NASCAR's crown-jewel events.
However, the performance metric hasn't been kind to some heavy-hitters for Sunday's event, including Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain, whose tangle late at Darlington will relegate them to starting spots of 12th and 14th.
Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano, and Martin Truex, Jr. - three drivers that have visited victory lane in the series this season - will start from 15th, 17th, and 18th, respectively.
Alex Bowman, returning to the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time since fracturing his vertebra in a sprint car accident, will start from 31st, as he tackles one of the most gruelling events of the year.
Rounding out the 37-car field for Sunday's event is seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who makes his first start at NASCAR's top-level since COTA, earlier this season.
Image Courtesy of Craig White, Racing America
