The second event of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season – and the final event on the two-mile configuration of Auto Club Speedway – will be run without practice and qualifying, thanks to a very persistent Mother Nature.
NASCAR officially announced the cancelation of practice and qualifying prior to the garage opening for NASCAR Cup Series teams, canceling all on-track activity prior to Sunday’s 400-mile contest.
The official starting lineup for Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 will be set by NASCAR’s Performance Metric System, ensuring that Christopher Bell – who finished third in the Daytona 500 – will start from first place.
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will start alongside Bell on the front row for Sunday’s 200-lap contest, with Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, and Chris Buescher rounding out the top-five starters.
AJ Allmendinger will start from sixth, with Trackhouse Racing teammates Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain starting seventh and eighth. Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick will each start inside the top-10.
With the field majorly jumbled, the opening laps of Sunday’s event at Auto Club Speedway could become very interesting very quickly, as drivers fan out four and five-wide to make passes in the early stages of the race.
With less than 40 cars on the final entry list for Sunday’s event, every single driver and team entered in the event will start the race.
Full Lineup:
