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Chase Elliott was named the polesitter for the USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after rain forced NASCAR Cup Series qualifying to be cancelled on Saturday afternoon. The field was set per the NASCAR rule book, putting Elliott and Iowa winner Ryan Blaney on the front row.

This is the first time in over a year that rain has forced Cup qualifying to be cancelled, ending a streak of good weather on pole day dating back to the last qualifying rainout at Dover in 2023. Rain projects to be an issue again on Sunday, with the National Weather Service calling for an 80% chance of rain with showers and thunderstorms likely.

NASCAR was able to dry the track for a planned 30-minute practice session following qualifying's cancellation, but practice only ended up running for five minutes before the rain returned and cancelled all remaining on-track activity for Cup cars. Carson Hocevar was fastest in the abbreviated session at a 29.865.

USA Today 301 starting lineup

  1. #9 - Chase Elliott
  2. #12 - Ryan Blaney
  3. #24 - William Byron
  4. #20 - Christopher Bell
  5. #48 - Alex Bowman
  6. #22 - Joey Logano
  7. #19 - Martin Truex Jr.
  8. #1 - Ross Chastain
  9. #6 - Brad Keselowski
  10. #4 - Josh Berry (R)
  11. #99 - Daniel Suarez
  12. #45 - Tyler Reddick
  13. #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  14. #11 - Denny Hamlin
  15. #17 - Chris Buescher
  16. #38 - Todd Gilliland
  17. #23 - Bubba Wallace
  18. #54 - Ty Gibbs
  19. #5 - Kyle Larson
  20. #77 - Carson Hocevar (R)
  21. #10 - Noah Gragson
  22. #3 - Austin Dillon
  23. #14 - Chase Briscoe
  24. #51 - Justin Haley
  25. #34 - Michael McDowell
  26. #7 - Corey LaJoie
  27. #21 - Harrison Burton
  28. #42 - John Hunter Nemechek
  29. #2 - Austin Cindric
  30. #8 - Kyle Busch
  31. #41 - Ryan Preece
  32. #43 - Erik Jones
  33. #31 - Daniel Hemric
  34. #71 - Zane Smith (R)
  35. #15 - Kaz Grala (R)
  36. #16 - Ty Dillon