CONCORD, N.C. – YellaWood 500 winner Denny Hamlin will lead the field to green Sunday when the NASCAR Cup Series returns to action Sunday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.

Hamlin, the most recent series winner at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, earned the Busch Pole Award for the Bank of America ROVAL 400 by virtue of NASCAR’s performance-based metric qualifying formula.

The NASCAR matrix factors in a driver’s lap speed ranking from the previous race, the last race finish for both driver and owner and the car’s current rank in the owner standings.

Lap speed is weighted at 15 percent, previous race finish at 25 percent for the driver and owner results and owner points position at 35 percent to calculate the final metric score.

Driver and owner playoff-eligible entries are ranked at the front of the field based on their metric scores from lowest to highest, with all non-playoff entries lined up behind the playoff cars in similar fashion.

Hamlin earned the top spot with a metric score of 1.3, factoring in his Talladega win, point-leading status and the third-fastest lap from the event.

Defending ROVAL winner Chase Elliott will join Hamlin on the front row, followed by Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman among the top five starters.

Sixth through 10th are Austin Dillon, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch.

Aric Almirola starts lowest among the playoff contenders in 12th. After Sunday’s race, the lowest four drivers on the playoff grid will be eliminated from championship contention.

Jimmie Johnson starts 30th in his final scheduled race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

To view the full starting lineup and performance matrix breakdown, click here.

The Bank of America ROVAL 400 is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. ET start Sunday, with live coverage on NBC, the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.