O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 starting grid: Starting lineup for NASCAR from Texas
Before the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Lone Star State, here’s the starting grid for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500.
The starting grid for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race is so mixed up that you’d be forgiven for thinking it was inverted. Very little about the starting lineup for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 makes sense, but will it make for great racing?
Kevin Harvick, who has been living in a land of perpetual frustration and hopefully has learned not to speed on pit lane, is on the pole at Texas Motor Speedway. Behind him in the second spot is Ryan Blaney, who will probably spend the rest of the weekend still trying to apologize to Dale Earnhardt Jr.
But a number of big names are on the wrong end of this list. A whopping nine cars didn’t pass technical inspection in time to qualify (that’s almost a quarter of the starting lineup). They include current points leaders Ryan Larson and Chase Elliott, Earnhardt and Kyle Busch.
Then you have 24th place Jimmie Johnson, who’s wondering what he has to do to get a decent qualifying spot this season. He’s going to have to start making sacrifices to Jobu or something.
Below is the complete starting grid for the 2017 O’Reilly Auto Parts 500:
1 – Kevin Harvick
2 – Ryan Blaney
3 – Clint Bowyer
4 – Joey Logano
5 – Brad Keselowski
6 – Jamie McMurray
7 – Martin Truex Jr.
8 – Matt Kenseth
9 – Ryan Newman
10 – Kurt Busch
11 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12 – Trevor Bayne
13 – Michael McDowell
14 – Ty Dillon
15 – Landon Cassill
16 – AJ Allmendinger
17 – Denny Hamlin
18 – Aric Almirola
19 – Danica Patrick
20 – Daniel Suarez
21 – David Ragan
22 – Paul Menard
23 – Corey LaJoie
24 – Jimmie Johnson
25 – Austin Dillon
26 – Matt DiBenedetto
27 – J.J. Yeley
28 – Cole Whitt
29 – Gray Gaulding
30 – Reed Sorenson
31 – Jeffrey Earnhardt
32 – Kyle Larson
33 – Chase Elliott
34 – Kyle Busch
35 – Kasey Kahne
36 – Erik Jones
37 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
38 – Chris Buescher
39 – Timmy Hill
40 – Derrike Cope
Next: Earnhardt doesn't take Blaney's call after Martinsville
The 2017 O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 will be nationally televised starting at 1:30 p.m. EST on FOX. You can get the latest updates throughout race weekend by following the NASCAR section at FanSided here.