Kyle Busch has secured the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Busch will start his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota from the pole position at the 1.058-mile track. He is a three-time New Hampshire winner in the Cup Series, with his most recent victory there coming in 2017. He’s scheduled to start first for the first time this year in the Cup Series.
RELATED: Cup lineup | New Hampshire schedule | Cup Series standings
Jeb Burton wrapped up the Xfinity Series pole for Saturday’s Ambetter Get Vaccinated 200 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN, SiriusXM) in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. He was the runner-up to Busch last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is also in action this weekend at Loudon with Saturday’s Whelen 100 (12:45 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Gold TrackPass).
As NASCAR adapted to COVID-19 protocols last season, practice and qualifying were eliminated at a majority of national-series events to limit at-track time, exposure and to cut race weekend costs. To determine starting lineups, competition officials used grouped draws, added inversions for weekend doubleheaders and eventually adopted a performance-metrics formula. That metrics format remains in place this season, drawing on performance from both individual races and season-long results.
NASCAR’s metrics formula for 2021 weighs:

25 percent: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race
25 percent: Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race
35 percent: Team owner points ranking
15 percent: Fastest lap from the previous race

See the full lineup for Sunday’s Cup Series race below.

Start pos.

Driver
Car #
Team

1
Kyle Busch
18
Joe Gibbs Racing

2
Martin Truex Jr.
19
Joe Gibbs Racing

3
Chase Elliott
9
Hendrick Motorsports

4
Kurt Busch
1
Chip Ganassi Racing

5
Alex Bowman
48
Hendrick Motorsports

6
Denny Hamlin
11
Joe Gibbs Racing

7
Ryan Blaney
12
Team Penske

8
Tyler Reddick
8
Richard Childress Racing

9
Christopher Bell
20
Joe Gibbs Racing

10
Kyle Larson
5
Hendrick Motorsports

11
Brad Keselowski
2
Team Penske

12
Kevin Harvick
4
Stewart-Haas Racing

13
Austin Dillon
3
Richard Childress Racing

14
Matt DiBenedetto
21
Wood Brothers Racing

15
Joey Logano
22
Team Penske

16
William Byron
24
Hendrick Motorsports

17
Chris Buescher
17
Roush Fenway Racing

18
Bubba Wallace
23
23XI Racing

19
Chase Briscoe
14
Stewart-Haas Racing

20
Ross Chastain
42
Chip Ganassi Racing

21
Cole Custer
41
Stewart-Haas Racing

22
Aric Almirola
10
Stewart-Haas Racing

23
Michael McDowell
34
Front Row Motorsports

24
Erik Jones
43
Richard Petty Motorsports

25
Ryan Preece
37
JTG Daugherty Racing

26
Corey LaJoie
7
Spire Motorsports

27
Anthony Alfredo
38
Front Row Motorsports

28
Ryan Newman
6
Roush Fenway Racing

29
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
47
JTG Daugherty Racing

30
Justin Haley
77
Spire Motorsports

31
Daniel Suarez
99
Trackhouse Racing Team

32
BJ McLeod
78
Live Fast Motorsports

33
Garrett Smithley
53
Rick Ware Racing

34
Cody Ware
51
Petty Ware Racing

35
Josh Bilicki
52
Rick Ware Racing

36
Quin Houff
00
StarCom Racing

37
James Davison
15
Rick Ware Racing

Practice and qualifying are tentatively scheduled for eight Cup Series races this year. Two races remain with Busch Pole Qualifying on the schedule — Aug. 15 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course and the season-ending championship race Nov. 7 at Phoenix Raceway.

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