Qualifying report

NASCAR Cup Atlanta

Atlanta NASCAR Cup qualifying cancelled, Tyler Reddick on pole

The newly crowned Daytona 500 will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday's NASCAR Cup race

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Feb 21, 2026, 6:26 PM

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Rain at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta)

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Unfortunately, rain showers and lightning prevented NASCAR from holding Cup Series qualifying on Saturday morning. Instead, the metric will set the starting lineup. The system was slightly altered for 2026, so now it's just an average of the car's place in the owner standings (30%), and the entry's finish in the most recent race (70%).

As a result, championship leader and Daytona 500 winner Tyler Reddick will start from pole position on Sunday, and the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota granted the preferred pit box for the second race of the 2026 season. Joey Logano, who won his Duel race and finished third (while crashing) in the 500, will join him on the front row in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start third, Chase Elliott fourth, and Brad Keselowski fifth. Zane Smith, Chris Buescher, Riley Herbst, Bubba Wallace, and Josh Berry will fill out the remainder of the top ten.

Some notables starting outside the top 20 include Ross Chastain in 21st, Ryan Blaney 22nd, Ryan Preece 26th, Shane van Gisbergen 28th, Denny Hamlin 29th, Austin Cindric 30th, Connor Zilisch 31st, Christopher Bell 32nd, Chase Briscoe 34th, and Alex Bowman 36th.

Full starting lineup for NASCAR Cup at Atlanta

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

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