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Jared C. Tilton, Getty

After two straight weeks of time trial qualifying, it's back to the reality of pandemic-era racing for the NASCAR Cup Series. On Sunday at Sonoma Raceway, the field is once again being set by NASCAR's qualifying metric, which has rewarded Hendrick Motorsports for their dominance last week.

On Wednesday, NASCAR released the starting lineup for Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, awarding Kyle Larson the pole after his dominant performance in last week's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Larson leads a Hendrick 1-2-3 sweep of the top three starting positions, with Chase Elliott second and William Byron third, followed by Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Tyler Reddick.

Larson's starting from the pole is just one of the things he has to look forward to as NASCAR heads out west. 

Sonoma is Larson's home track, as he hails from Elk Grove, Calif. in the greater Sacramento-area. Larson and the rest of the Cup Series field will visit Sonoma for the first time since 2019, as last year's race at the speedway was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to the regulars of the Cup Series field, there are two notable drivers entered in Sunday's race: Camping World Truck Series regular Ben Rhodes will make his Cup debut driving the No. 77 for Spire Motorsports, while road course ringer Scott Heckert will drive the No. 78 for Live Fast Motorsports.

Below is the full starting lineup for the Toyota/Save Mart 350:

  1. #5 - Kyle Larson - Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet
  2. #9 - Chase Elliott - NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet
  3. #24 - William Byron - Axalta Chevrolet
  4. #11 - Denny Hamlin - FedEx Express Toyota
  5. #18 - Kyle Busch - Sport Clips Toyota
  6. #3 - Austin Dillon - Chevrolet
  7. #48 - Alex Bowman - Ally Chevrolet
  8. #4 - Kevin Harvick - Busch Light #BeerOverWine Ford
  9. #2 - Brad Keselowski - America's Tire Ford
  10. #8 - Tyler Reddick - Chevrolet
  11. #12 - Ryan Blaney - Ford
  12. #17 - Chris Buescher - Fastenal Ford
  13. #22 - Joey Logano - Autotrader Ford
  14. #47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - SunnyD Chevrolet
  15. #23 - Bubba Wallace - DoorDash Toyota
  16. #99 - Daniel Suarez - CommScope Chevrolet
  17. #21 - Matt DiBenedetto - Menards/Knauf Ford
  18. #43 - Erik Jones - Black Entrepreneur Initiative Chevrolet
  19. #19 - Martin Truex Jr. - Bass Pro Toyota
  20. #20 - Christopher Bell - Rheem/Smurfit Kappa Toyota
  21. #34 - Michael McDowell - Love's Travel Stops Ford
  22. #7 - Corey LaJoie - Nations Guard Chevrolet
  23. #41 - Cole Custer - Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford
  24. #6 - Ryan Newman - Guaranteed Rate Ford
  25. #14 - Chase Briscoe (R) - Ford Performance Racing School Ford
  26. #10 - Aric Almirola - Smithfield Ford
  27. #37 - Ryan Preece - Cottonelle Chevrolet
  28. #38 - Anthony Alfredo (R) - Ford
  29. #42 - Ross Chastain - Clover Chevrolet
  30. #1 - Kurt Busch - Monster Energy Chevrolet
  31. #77 - Ben Rhodes - Kaeding Performance Chevrolet
  32. #15 - James Davison - Chevrolet
  33. #00 - Quin Houff - 8 Ball Chocolate Whiskey Chevrolet
  34. #53 - Garrett Smithley - Ford
  35. #78 - Scott Heckert - Surface Suncreen Ford
  36. #52 - Josh Bilicki - Ford
  37. #51 - Cody Ware - Nurtec ODT Chevrolet