NASCAR Charlotte 2017: Lineup, starting grid for Bank of America 500

NASCAR begins its second round of the Monster Energy Cup Series playoffs Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, site of the Bank of America 500. Denny Hamlin will lead the field to the green flag after topping qualifying with a 191.598 mph lap during qualifying on Friday, and he’ll start alongside Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth (191.489 mph).

The complete starting lineup is below.

The first of three races in the second playoff round will air Sunday on NBC beginning at 1 p.m. ET. The start time was moved up an hour due to the threat of inclement weather caused by Hurricane Nate that is expected to make landfall in the Southeastern United States late Saturday night, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Rick Allen will handle play-by-play duties of the Bank of America, with analysts Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte joining him in the broadcast booth. Online streaming is available through NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app.

Hamlin will start on the pole for the first time after three second-place efforts in qualifying this season. He’s earned a pole in every season he’s raced on the top circuit.

“You always like keeping streaks alive. I hadn’t had a pole this year and had one every other year, but we’ve been so close,” Hamlin said. “We’ve made a lot of final rounds, been in the top-five but not as fast as our other teammates.”

Kevin Harvick had posted the fastest speed in each of the first two qualifying sessions on Friday night but couldn’t back it up in the decisive third round. He will start third, followed by Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer. Completing the top 10 were Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, and Kyle Larson.

Improving weather forecast for Bank of America 500, but rain is still possible

Sunday is looking drier with a more scattered, hit-or-miss variety of showers than a large area of rain. … The forecast remains complicated, but the overall trend from the weather models is a drier Sunday, increasing the odds of getting at least an official race in if not all of it.

Bank of America 500 qualifying recap

Playoff challenger Kyle Busch, who won the past two postseason races, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. each needed multiple attempts clearing technical inspection and narrowly passed, just getting onto the track before the session had expired. Rookie Erik Jones of Furniture Row Racing did not pass and failed to turn a qualifying lap. All three face the loss of practice time on Saturday.

Busch and Earnhardt were involved in incidents earlier in Friday’s lone practice session. Busch slapped the wall off Turn 4, where earlier Earnhardt had pancaked the wall. Busch’s team was able to repair his Toyota, while Hendrick Motorsports pulled out a backup car for Earnhardt.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. hits wall in practice Friday, switches to backup Chevrolet for race

Earnhardt got loose entering Turn 4 and slid up the track where he struck the outside wall. The contact heavily damaged the No. 88 Chevrolet and forced his Hendrick Motorsports team to switch to a backup car for the remainder of the race weekend. He said the PJ1 substance that officials had applied to the upper groove to provide additional traction actually had the opposite effect, causing him to lose control.