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Rain gives Kyle Busch the first starting spot at Las Vegas but he won't get to start there

Kevin Harvick is set to start third on Sunday but could unofficially end up starting first. (Photo by Will Lester/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Kevin Harvick is set to start third on Sunday but could unofficially end up starting first. (Photo by Will Lester/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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.

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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