Nascar chase seeding and tie-breakers

Question

this came up in an earlier question and i can't find an answer, so i thought i'd ask a real nascar question:

once the chase starts, all twelve top drivers start with 5000 points PLUS the bonus points awarded for wins this year (minus any "bonus point" penalties like cousin carl received after vegas)

if the chase were to start tomorrow, kyle would be seeded first with 5080 points; carl would be seeded second with 5030; jimmie and kasey would be tied for third with 5020, junior, burton, and denny would be tied for fifth with 5010, and the rest would be tied for eighth with 5000.

my question is: if qualifying for the first chase race is rained out, how would the top twelve starting positions be determined, especially between drivers who have the same number of bonus points?

i know kyle would start P1 and carl P2. but how would the rest start? in my example, jimmie and kasey are tied in points, so who gets P3 and who gets P4? and further down, junior, burton, and denny are tied as well - so which of them would line up P5, who would be P6, and who would be P7? and how would all those drivers with 5000 points be lined up? why?

in short, how would a tie between or amongst chase drivers be broken should a situation like qualifying being rained out occur, at loudon or anywhere after that if a tie still exists? average finishing position to date? second-place finishes? top-fives? top-tens? fewest dnfs? fan votes? salary? a dance-off?

and what if two drivers were also tied on whatever the first tie-breaker is?

i know the answer is out there somewhere... can someone find it, and make sure it applies to this year?

Answer 1

I really don't know!! But maybe just maybe they would start in the position they held at the end of the chase before the bonus points were assessed

Answer 2

Read your Nascar rulebook! LOL!  It really doesnt matter doesnt it?!  Starting position is meaningless unless you're talking about 5th vs. 35th.  Schrader cracked me up once.  They asked him how you determine who starts where when multiple drivers have to fall to the back at the start.  He said, Aw h**l, you just go back there and find a spot, we're going to run 500 laps!

Answer 3

I believe this is the order they determine a tie: 1) the driver with more wins, 2) the driver with more top-five finishes or 3) the driver with more top-10 finishes. In this case, the drivers would have the same number of wins so it would go to the one with the most top-fives.

Edit - This is one article I found on it.

Answer 4

I would venture that they would line up according to manufacturer points.

Flip a coin,

Thumb wrestling,

A game of tag.

Until NASCAR makes the official rule book available to the general public, we will never know.

Answer 5

probably they would line up by how they were before the chase started.