Bobby Travis · NASCAR/IndyCar-Korrespondent
Persistent rain forces NASCAR to scrap practice and qualifying at Kansas Speedway, with Joey Logano benefiting by claiming pole position.
Bad weather dealt NASCAR a blow at Kansas Speedway. Practice and qualifying for the Cup Series' Hollywood Casino 400 washed out entirely due to sustained rainfall, forcing the series to determine Sunday's starting lineup through its official metrics formula. The beneficiary is Joey Logano, who heads to the grid from pole position following his victory at the Bristol Night Race.
How the starting grid comes together without qualifying
Without a single lap completed in qualifying, NASCAR turns to its metrics system. The formula weights the result from the previous race, in this case Bristol, at 70 percent and current points or owner standings at 30 percent. Winning most recently essentially guarantees a spot near the front, regardless of how the car would actually perform at Kansas.
Logano, who left Bristol as the race winner, claims pole position ahead of Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell under this system. Carson Hocevar, Ty Gibbs, and Denny Hamlin round out the first three rows. For Team Penske, this represents a snapshot of their form since Bristol; for Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, the front-row spots mean clean air in the opening laps, an advantage that could quickly prove decisive for stage points on an intermediate oval like Kansas.
Not an isolated incident in this Chase phase
Kansas marks the third Cup race among the first four Chase events where rain has wiped out qualifying, and the eighth time all season in 2024. This pattern threatens to add strain to an already packed Chase calendar, particularly when every starting position system directly impacts the championship fights of Chase contenders.
For drivers outside the top metrics spots, that means extra work in the field, less control over your race start, and in worst-case scenarios, additional risk during early restarts when the field remains tight.
Trucks and ARCA also caught in the weather
The weather impact didn't stop with the Cup Series. Practice and qualifying for both the Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series at Kansas Speedway were also canceled, putting the entire weekend across all series on a backup plan.
The main event, the Hollywood Casino 400, is scheduled to go green Sunday as planned. With Logano starting from pole but without a single practice session to reference for setup and tire behavior, the first stage figures to reveal one thing above all: who can push their car to the limit when the data simply isn't there.
