{
  "id": 5848400,
  "title": "NASCAR Cup Darlington Southern 500 starting lineup after lightning cancels qualifying",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/05/nascar-cup-darlington-southern-500-starting-lineup-after-lightning",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-05T22:08:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Motorsport.com",
    "slug": "motorsport-com",
    "url": "https://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/nascar-cup-darlington-southern-500-starting-lineup/10852786/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "At the 2026 NASCAR Cup Southern 500 in Darlington, starting lineup for the race was determined due to the cancellation of qualifying caused by lightning on a hot day. Tyler Reddick, the No. 3 seed, started from pole position in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota. Daniel Suarez, the No. 11 seed, secured the second spot in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Ryan Preece, who clinched his first career win, took the third position in the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford. Denny Hamlin, the No. 1 seed, began the race in fourth place. Michael McDowell, the highest-starting non-Chase driver, started fifth. Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon, and Alex Bowman followed in the top ten. Carson Hocevar and Chris Buescher occupied the 34th and 35th spots, respectively. The remaining drivers from 17th to 36th were ranked in order of their seedings.",
  "summary": "The NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session for the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington was canceled due to lightning. As a result, the starting lineup was determined by a metric that combines a car's owner standings (30%) and its finish in the most recent race (70%).\n\nTyler Reddick will start from the pole position, with Daniel Suarez starting second. Several Chase drivers, including Reddick and Suarez, benefited from the metric-based lineup, while others were put at a disadvantage.\n\nThe full starting lineup for the Cook Out Southern 500 includes: Tyler Reddick, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Denny Hamlin, Michael McDowell, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Riley Herbst, Cole Custer, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, John Hunter Nemechek, William Byron, Todd Gilliland, Corey Heim, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Shane van Gisbergen, Ty Dillon, Ty Gibbs, Noah Gragson, AJ Allmendinger, Connor Zilisch, Austin Hill, Zane Smith, Carson Hocevar, and Chris Buescher, according to Yahoo Sports.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Winnipeg Free Press",
        "title": "Briscoe looking for Darlington history with a third straight Southern 500 to start NASCAR playoffs",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/05/briscoe-looking-for-darlington-history-with-a-third-straight-southern",
        "published": "2026-09-05T20:59:09.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Yahoo Sports",
        "title": "NASCAR entry list for Cup Series race at Darlington in September 2026",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/05/nascar-entry-list-for-cup-series-race-at-darlington-in-september-2026",
        "published": "2026-09-05T21:36:27.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}