The NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season finale has been postponed to Sunday morning (local time) due to rain at Daytona.

The field had been set to take the green flag at 19:46 ET on Saturday night, but rain and lightning put paid to that.

Instead, the 160-lapper is now due to get underway on the following morning at 10:00 ET (Monday morning at 00:00 AEST).

Already, qualifying had been a washout and hence the starting grid was set according to the NASCAR Rule Book.

That put Hendrick Motorsports team-mates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott on the front row, ahead of Joey Logano (Team Penske), Daniel Suarez (TrackHouse Racing), Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing), Tyler Reddick (Richard Childress Racing), Kevin Harvick (Stewart-Haas Racing), Chris Buescher (RFK Racing), Michael McDowell (Front Row Motorsports), and Alex Bowman (Hendrick).

As it stands, 14 drivers are locked into the playoffs, meaning two berths are still up for grabs.

There have been 15 distinct winners in 25 races so far this season but one of them, Kurt Busch, will miss the start of the playoffs given he is still sidelined after experiencing concussion-like symptoms following his crash at Pocono in July.

23XI Racing has therefore withdrawn its medical waiver, and hence Busch drops out of playoff eligibility, although the #45 entry will still compete for owners points with Ty Gibbs behind the wheel.

Ryan Blaney (Penske) and Martin Truex Jnr (JGR), both winless in the year to date but third and sixth respectively in the series standings, are also provisionally into the playoffs.

One would be knocked out, however, if there is a 16th different race winner of 2022 tomorrow morning and it is neither of them.

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