LAS VEGAS – Chase Briscoe, the top-seeded driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, will lead the field to green for the postseason opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday.
Briscoe, who won seven times during the regular season, earned the top spot 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.
Briscoe’s pole start came with a perfect score of 1.0, considering he won the regular season finale at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, posted the fastest lap during that race and lead the standings entering Las Vegas.
Austin Cindric, tied in points with Briscoe going into Saturday’s Alsco 300, lines up on the front row alongside his fellow Ford driver. The Chevrolet pair of Justin Allgaier and Ross Chastain makes up the second row, with the Toyota of Harrison Burton starting fifth.
Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Anthony Alfredo, Riley Herbst, Justin Haley, Brandon Brown, Ryan Sieg, Michael Annett and Daniel Hemric fill out the first seven rows of the grid.
Alfredo and Hemric are both driving for teams that made the owner playoffs. Alfredo will wheel the No. 21 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing at Las Vegas, while Hemric returns to the seat of the No. 8 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.
Jeremy Clements is starting highest among non-playoff teams in 15th place.
The full starting lineup and metric breakdown can be viewed by clicking here.
The Alsco 300 is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. ET start on Saturday, with live coverage on NBCSN, the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.