NASCAR at Texas results: Kyle Larson becomes first driver to qualify for Championship 4

The NASCAR playoff race is closer than ever heading into the first race of the Round of 8 on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Chaos undoubtedly will unfold on the 1.5-mile track as playoff drivers scramble to land or stay above the cut line for the season-ending Championship 4 race. 

Sixth-place driver Chase Elliott is 43 points behind first-place driver Kyle Larson, who won last week's race on Charlotte's Roval course. Elliott rallied to finish 12th in that race after being wrecked by Kevin Harvick. If the wreck hadn't happened, Elliott would have had a chance at earning more points and securing a spot in the top four. Harvick himself crashed late in the race and was eliminated from the playoffs. 

MORE: Harvick wrecks Elliott, then crashes out of playoffs

The feud between the two escalated at Charlotte after an incident three weeks earlier at Bristol. NASCAR took extra measures last week to ensure that the feud wouldn't continue. It conducted a conference call Wednesday with both drivers, their crew chiefs, car owners and manufacturer representatives to warn of severe consequences if they didn't squash their beef. 

LINEUP AT TEXAS: Starting order, pole for playoff race without qualifying

Sporting News is tracking live updates and lap-by-lap highlights from NASCAR's playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. Follow for complete results from the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500.

MORE: Watch today's NASCAR race with fuboTV (7-day free trial)

NASCAR at Texas live update, highlights from Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500

Updates will be added beginning at 2 p.m. ET.

NASCAR start time today

• Time: 2 p.m. ET
• TV channel: NBC
• Live stream: NBCSports.com, NBC Sports App, Peacock, fuboTV

The green flag for Sunday's NASCAR playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway is scheduled to drop at 2:08 p.m. ET. 

How to watch NASCAR at Texas

• TV channel: NBC
• Live stream: NBCSports.com, NBC Sports App, fuboTV
• Radio: PRN

NBC's programming will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET with the network's "Countdown to Green" prerace show, hosted by Marty Snider with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad Daugherty. Rick Allen will handle the play-by-play call of the race. Earnhardt, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte will provide analysis. 

Snider, Kelli Stavast and Parker Kligerman will be the pit reporters. Daugherty will provide additional reporting from around the track.

NASCAR Cup playoff standings

The Round of 8 field was set last weekend with the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Kyle Larson exited that race with the win and a 42-point lead over Kyle Busch, the first driver below the cut line for the season-ending Championship 4 race.

The field is bunched tightly after Larson; the second- through sixth-place drivers are separated by just eight points. That closeness makes winning one of the next three races vitally important. A playoff driver who wins a race in the Round of 8 automatically qualifies for the Championship 4 race on Nov. 7 at Phoenix Raceway.

"You've got to be really good. You've got to do a good job every lap of every race. You've got to get your stage points," Larson said of the challenge of being the front-runner. "You can't let your guard down and lose ground on guys that are gaining points on you. Yes, it's nice to have the (65) bonus points that we have but I'm hoping we don't have to lean on them like we did at Talladega, or going into (Charlotte)."

Larson finished 37th at Talladega after wrecking. That result cost him more than half his lead over the first driver below the cut line, which was Kevin Harvick for the Charlotte race.

Five past Cup Series champions are in this year's final eight: Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski.

NASCAR starting lineup at Texas

NASCAR used a mathematical formula to set the starting lineup for Sunday's playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway, the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500. Thirty-nine cars were entered for the race, which is one short of a full field. Playoff drivers are denoted by a "P" next to their names. 

Per NASCAR's playoff rules, the top eight spots in the field went to the eight remaining playoff drivers, but the starting order was based on the mathematical formula NASCAR has used for the majority of its races this season.

Tom Gatto contributed to this report.