Rain gives Kyle Busch the first starting spot at Las Vegas but he won't get to start there
Rain is 2-for-2 in impacting NASCAR weekends.
After rain pushed the Daytona 500 to a Monday finish, it canceled qualifying for Sunday’s race at Las Vegas on Saturday. The starting lineup for the race is set via the owners’ points after the 2019 season, which means that champion Kyle Busch gets the right to start first.
He won’t start there, however. Busch and teammate Denny Hamlin will go to the back of the field along with Christopher Bell for modifications made to the noses of their cars ahead of practice on Friday. Each driver will also get penalized 10 points for the issues.
Hamlin, KyBusch and Bell have been docked 10 points (driver and owner). The body of the nose of each of those vehicles did not meet specifications ... will be dropping to rear on pace laps Sunday. #nascar @NASCARONFOX
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) February 22, 2020
The penalty drops Hamlin’s point total to 40, second in the points standings behind Ryan Blaney. After losing 10 points, Busch will start the race with just two points — fewer than any driver not named Quin Houff — after the penalty and Bell will start the race with eight points to his name.
Ross Chastain will start 15th in his first race as Ryan Newman’s substitute driver following Newman’s horrific crash in the 500. Daniel Suarez will start 35th in his first Cup race of the season after he missed out on the 500 because of a crash in his Duel qualifying race.
The race is scheduled to go green just after 3:30 p.m. ET.
Full starting lineup
1. Kyle Busch (to the back)
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Denny Hamlin (to the back)
5. Joey Logano
6. Kyle Larson
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Brad Keselowski
9. Clint Bowyer
10. Chase Elliott
11. William Byron
12. Alex Bowman
13. Kurt Busch
14. Aric Almirola
15. Ross Chastain
16. Erik Jones
17. Cole Custer
18. Jimmie Johnson
19. Matt DiBenedetto
20. Ryan Preece
21. Austin Dillon
22. Christopher Bell (to the back)
23. Chris Buescher
24. Ty Dillon
25. Tyler Reddick
26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
27. Bubba Wallace
28. Michael McDowell
29. John Hunter Nemechek
30. Corey LaJoie
31. Joey Gase
32. Quin Houff
33. Brennan Poole
34. Garrett Smithley
35. Daniel Suarez
36. Reed Sorenson
37. JJ Yeley
38. Timmy Hill
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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