Chase Elliott to Become the First Pole-Sitter of the 2020 Playoffs at Darlington

This weekend, the playoff races will finally kick-off. Of course, the grid has to be sorted out before the race can even begin. However, with no practice or qualifying, NASCAR is using its formula to decide the pole man. The big winner for this weekend’s race at Darlington is Chase Elliott.

However, with a number of motivated drivers hot on his tail, he will not have things that easy this time around. Starting alongside him on the front row is Denny Hamlin. Meanwhile, Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron and Alex Bowman line up 3rd and 4th.

Behind the Top-4, the rest of the playoff starting grid is led by Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr, Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, and Matt DiBenedetto to follow him.

Finally, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano, Cole Custer, Kyle, and Kurt Busch make up the remaining 16 drivers.

How did Chase Elliott bag pole for Darlington?

This is Elliott’s fourth pole position this season and his 11th career pole. It is also worth noting that the No. 9 Chevrolet led the field at Dover, Atlanta, and Phoenix. Suffice to say, Chase Elliott will be relishing the opportunity to bag a third win to add to Charlotte and Daytona.

Owing to the formula that assesses owner points position, driver’s finish, team owner’s finish, and fastest lap. For the first playoff race at Darlington, all qualified cars will occupy the Top-16 positions.

Later on, in the Round of 16, the Top-16 starting positions will consist of playoff cars. This process is set to continue with each passing race until somebody wins the playoff.

Prior to adopting this formula, NASCAR used to employ a random draw to decide most of its lineups. This was largely due to the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Now, NASCAR evidently feels that this formula is a better temporary solution until a sense of normalcy returns to the racetrack.