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Kyle Larson will start first at Texas

Kyle Larson will have the best starting spot at Texas as he goes for his eighth win of 2021.

Larson will start first on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC) as he attempts to defend his All-Star Race win at Texas Motor Speedway. Larson won the non-points event earlier in the season in the midst of a run where he won four races in four weeks.

If you count the All-Star Race, Larson already has eight Cup Series wins in 2021. He won his seventh points race of the season at the Charlotte Roval as he got his third road course win of the season.

[Texas betting preview]

Any playoff driver who wins Sunday's race is automatically guaranteed to race for the championship at Phoenix on Nov. 7. The eight remaining playoff drivers are starting in the top eight spots. The eight drivers eliminated from the playoffs are starting in spots Nos. 9-16 while all non-playoff drivers occupy the rest of the starting spots.

Here's how the field will line up. The starting lineup was determined by NASCAR's qualifying formula because there's no practice or qualifying ahead of the race.

Texas starting lineup

1. Kyle Larson

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Kyle Busch

4. Ryan Blaney

5. Joey Logano

6. Chase Elliott

7. Brad Keselowski

8. Martin Truex Jr.

9. Tyler Reddick

10. Chris Buescher

11. Christopher Bell

12. William Byron

13. Matt DiBenedetto

14. Alex Bowman

15. Austin Dillon

16. Michael McDowell

17. Kurt Busch

18. Bubba Wallace

19. Daniel Suarez

20. Cole Custer

21. Erik Jones

22. Aric Almirola

23. Ryan Preece

24. Kevin Harvick

25. Ross Chastain

26. Chase Briscoe

27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

28. Anthony Alfredo

29. Corey LaJoie

30. Quin Houff

31. Ryan Newman

32. Justin Haley

33. Josh Bilicki

34. Cody Ware

35. BJ McLeod

36. Garrett Smithley

37. Joey Gase

38. David Starr

39. Timmy Hill