FORT WORTH, Texas – Going for his fourth straight Texas Motor Speedway playoff victory, Kevin Harvick will lead the field to green for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500.
Harvick earned the Busch Pole Award based on NASCAR’s metric qualifying formula.
The NASCAR matrix factors in a driver’s lap speed ranking from the previous race, the last race finish for both driver and owner and the car’s current rank in the owner standings.
Lap speed is weighted at 15 percent, previous race finish at 25 percent for the driver and owner results and owner points position at 35 percent to calculate the final metric score.
Driver and owner playoff-eligible entries are ranked at the front of the field based on their metric scores from lowest to highest, with all non-playoff entries lined up behind the playoff cars in similar fashion.
Harvick earned the top spot with a metric score of 1.95, factoring in a runner-up finish from Kansas Speedway last weekend, the fourth-fastest lap from the event and his top-seeded status in the current point standings.
Joey Logano, who won at Kansas and had the race’s fastest lap, will join Harvick on the front row, with Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman starting third through fifth, respectively.
Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch fill out the remaining playoff drivers in the first four rows of the starting grid.
Kyle Busch starts best among the non-playoff contenders in ninth.
Jimmie Johnson will start 26th in his final race at Texas. He’s an eight-time winner there.
To view the complete starting lineup and performance matrix, click here.
The AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 is set for a 3:30 p.m. ET start, with live coverage on NBCSN, the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.