Hurricane Isaias Forces Sunday NASCAR Doubleheader; Metric Debate Continues

Charlotte Motor Speedway (Concord, N.C.) — NASCAR’s metric woes have continued. Thanks, Hurricane Isaias. NASCAR’s starting-order format when qualifying is rained out — which is commonly known as “the metric” — was wiped out Saturday, thanks to the outer bands of Hurricane Isaias. Not only was Cup practice and qualifying canceled, the O’Reilly Series never got on track and had its race from Saturday postponed to 8 p.m. ET on Sunday. The Chase doubleheader Sunday will start with the Cup event as scheduled at 3 p.m. on the 1.5-mile track. FOX Weather predicts the rain will continue through Saturday before clearing around noon Sunday. The lineups for both series were set by the NASCAR formula — factoring in the previous race’s finish for the car as 70 percent and the team’s position in owner points as 30 percent. Because NASCAR races are divided into stages and the top 10 earn points in each stage, starting up front can be pivotal in the 10-race Chase. While the lineup being set by the metric didn’t seem to attract much chatter during the regular season, it has in the 2026 Chase, where four of the first six races have had qualifying rained out. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell, who suffered through power steering issues last week in finishing 23rd at Las Vegas, will start 17th and voiced his frustration Saturday when talking to me and other reporters. Bell feels NASCAR should do more to try to get qualifying in when rain occurs, even if that means qualifying in the hours before the start of the race. “That sucks,” he said. “Not good. … We’re the top level of auto racing in America. You’re not going to see other top forms of motorsports line a race up without qualifying. “I think that we should put more effort into qualifying [at some point]. And I’m OK with the metric of lining up the qualifying order. I just think we need to qualify.” Kyle Larson will start on the pole while Chase Briscoe starts outside the front row. Denny Hamlin, who is 40 points behind Larson in the standings, will start 12th. “It’ll be more challenging in the first stage, but I don’t think it’ll be a challenge to win the race as much,” Hamlin told me and other reporters Saturday morning. “I think the No. 1 pit stall is going to be very beneficial [for Larson, who gets first pick]. “Because of no qualifying, we won’t have the opportunity to get an opening out [from our pit]. Most likely, have an opening in, which is a little disadvantage. But nothing that speed can’t overcome.” Larson credited a front-row starting spot at Kansas a couple of weeks ago, thanks to the metric, as playing a factor in his earning maximum points by sweeping the stages and the race. “This is a harder track to maintain the lead, just because the grip and the surface is a lot less,” Larson told me and other reporters Saturday. “Kansas, you can kind of maintain the lead pretty easily for three-quarters of the run, and then they start coming at you. “But from the 600 [in May at Charlotte], I got out to lead a couple different times, and the Gibbs cars were just faster and passing with no problem. Kansas, you’re just at max velocity a lot of the run. Here, there’s a lot more off-throttle time, and it just, you know, shapes up for easier passes. But if our car is good, we’re going to try our best to get the lead and maintain it.” NASCAR is expected to re-evaluate the use of the metric to set the lineup in the offseason as it doesn’t want to change the way it sets the lineup in the middle of its postseason.