Qualifying cancelation at Daytona puts Alex Bowman on front row
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Rain and lightning proved to be a good omen for Alex Bowman, the driver on the bubble for the final NASCAR Cup Series Playoff berth.
With the qualifying session for Saturday Night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 canceled because of inclement weather, Bowman will start on the outside of the front row next to Ryan Blaney in the race that will determine the final two positions in the postseason.
When time trials are canceled, grid positions are determined by NASCAR’s metric formula, comprised of owner points position, finishing position from the previous race and fastest lap rank from the previous race.
Bowman is 60 points above the current elimination line entering the last regular-season race. If one of the 15 drivers above him in the Playoff standings happens to win on Saturday, Bowman will clinch a berth on points.
The danger lies in the possibility of a driver below the cut line winning the pivotal race. If that happens, either Bowman or Tyler Reddick will be eliminated. Reddick, who starts 27th, enters the Coke Zero Sugar 400 with a 29-point edge over Bowman.
The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet views the second staring spot as extremely helpful.
“A good pit stall selection is good,” Bowman said, highlighting an important perk of a top starting position. “Speedway racing has become entirely more difficult to pass at, I feel like. So starting up front is definitely a good thing.”
It also gives Bowman options in trying to overtake Reddick on points.
“I think with the points deal with the 45 (Reddick), we need to get stage points,” Bowman said. “Stage 1 will determine how we race Stage 2 and kind of go from there. I need to do all we can to catch and beat the 45 on points. It’s a really tall order, but it is doable.
“If it doesn’t look like we’re going to do that, then I’m going to switch to just track position at the end and go try to win the race. We’re going to do everything we can to win the race regardless, but if we’ve got to burn some fuel to try to win stages, I think we’re definitely looking at points, too.”
Roush Fenway Keselowski drivers Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece, closest to Bowman in the standings, will start 24th and 31st, respectively. Buescher, Preece and those below them in the standings have only one path to the Playoffs—they must win the race.
DAYTONA 500 winner William Byron, who clinched the regular-season championship last Saturday at Richmond Raceway, starts eighth in his attempt to become the sixth driver to sweep both points races at the 2.5-mile superspeedway in the same season.
A victory by the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet would assure Bowman, his teammate, of a Playoff berth.
Behind Blaney and Bowman, the rest of the top 10 includes (in order) Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Byron, Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski.
NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Line Up by Row
Daytona International Speedway
Coke Zero Sugar 400
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 8/22/2025 @ 05:32 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Bill Elliott 02/08/87 00:15:10 197.802
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 12 Ryan Blaney Advance Auto Parts Ford 0.000 0.000
2 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 2: 3 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
4 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 3: 5 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Maytag Ford 0.000 0.000
6 11 Denny Hamlin King's Hawaiian Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 4: 7 3 Austin Dillon Breztri Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
8 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 5: 9 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 0.000 0.000
10 6 Brad Keselowski Consumer Cellular Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 6: 11 21 Josh Berry DEX Imaging Ford 0.000 0.000
12 99 Daniel Suarez Coca-Cola Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 7: 13 38 Zane Smith Aaron's Rent To Own Ford 0.000 0.000
14 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 8: 15 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 0.000 0.000
16 77 Carson Hocevar Modo Casino Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 9: 17 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Red Bull Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
18 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 10: 19 1 Ross Chastain Safety Culture Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
20 71 Michael McDowell Fly Alliance Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 11: 21 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
22 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 12: 23 10 Ty Dillon Sea Best Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
24 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 13: 25 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Jack Link's Duos Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
26 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 14: 27 45 Tyler Reddick McDonald's Toyota 0.000 0.000
28 34 Todd Gilliland Grillo's Pickles Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 15: 29 41 Cole Custer Haas/Bonanza Ford 0.000 0.000
30 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 16: 31 60 Ryan Preece Kroger/Little Bites/Capri Sun Ford 0.000 0.000
32 4 Noah Gragson Zep Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 17: 33 35 Riley Herbst # Chumba Casino Toyota 0.000 0.000
34 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 18: 35 51 Cody Ware Arby's Jamocha Shake Ford 0.000 0.000
36 33 Austin Hill(i) United Rentals Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 19: 37 7 Justin Haley Gainbridge Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
38 78 BJ McLeod(i) Pigeon Forge Racing Coaster Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 20: 39 66 Casey Mears SI Yachts Ford 0.000 0.000
40 44 Joey Gase(i) NFPA Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 18 0 Ford 13 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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