Saturday's qualifying session for Sunday's Wurth 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway featured only 36 of the 38 cars on the entry list for the 2026 season's 11th race.
23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace and Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon are set to start 37th and 38th, respectively, after neither one turned a qualifying lap. Wallace crashed in practice, while Dillon blew an engine.
For Wallace and Dillon, while they are officially set to drop to the rear, these "penalties" don't really do much, other than ensure that they will share the back row regardless of how many other drivers ended up being sent to the rear after actually qualifying.
Nobody else ended up being sent to the rear, and all 36 of the other drivers on the entry list are set to start exactly where they qualified, so there won't actually be any change in position for anybody during the pace laps.
Here's a look at the updated Wurth 400 starting lineup, with all pre-race "to the rear" penalties taken into account.
Updated NASCAR Cup Series starting lineup at Texas
Order | Driver |
|---|---|
1 | Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
2 | Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
3 | Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford |
4 | Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
5 | Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
6 | Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
7 | Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
8 | Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota |
9 | Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
10 | Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota |
11 | Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
12 | Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
13 | Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford |
14 | Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
15 | William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet |
16 | Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
17 | Corey Heim, No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota |
18 | Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota |
19 | Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet |
20 | Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford |
21 | Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
22 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet |
23 | Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford |
24 | Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford |
25 | Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford |
26 | A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
27 | Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet |
28 | Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
29 | Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet |
30 | Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford |
31 | Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet |
32 | Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
33 | John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota |
34 | Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford |
35 | Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet |
36 | Chad Finchum, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford |
37 | Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet |
38 | Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota |
Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of the Wurth 400 from Texas Motor Speedway. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now if you have not already had the opportunity to do so!