Tony Stewart will start from pole position in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono after rain forced qualifying to be canceled for the fifth time this season.

Back in June the current points leader inherited pole at the same track for the same reason but he was then forced to start from the rear of the field after switching to his back-up car for the race due to an incident during practice.

Regardless of what happens during Saturday's sessions, Stewart will still be secured the first box on pitroad, which he considers a crucial advantage as he looks to become the seventh driver in history to sweep both of the year's events at the track on Sunday.

"I'll take it," said Stewart of his fourth rain-earned fourth pole position of 2009 and his consequent favourable pit selection. "I am all for raining because of that. That is a selfish reason obviously. It would be nice to get on the racetrack today and get our practice session in. I'm OK if qualifying gets rained out.

"Really was a benefit having that first pit selection last time, especially our situation of myself crashing the car in practice and having to go to the back for race day. That helped us gain a lot of spots on pit road. It helped take what should have been an extremely long day and make it a good day."

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson will share the front row of the grid with Stewart, who was second fastest in the morning practice session, which was also halted by rain with more than 30 minutes of running still remaining.

Veteran Mark Martin was quickest in the session, which was dominated by Hendrick cars as Dale Earnhardt Jr was third ahead of Jeff Gordon, while Kyle Busch split them from the other two Hendrick-engined chassis of Stewart and Newman who were sixth and seventh fastest behind the 24-year-old.

The field for Sunday's 500-mile event will be set according to the owner point standings, which resembles the current status of the drivers' rankings up to 30th place.

Already expected to drop to the back of the field is Michael Waltrip, who damaged the bottom of the front end of his car in an incident during practice, when he got sideways out of Turn 3 and entering pit road.

There will be no drivers missing out on a start as for the first time this year only 43 cars were entered for the event.

STARTING LINEUP
Pos  Driver             Car

 1.  Tony Stewart       Chevrolet

 2.  Jimmie Johnson     Chevrolet

 3.  Jeff Gordon        Chevrolet

 4.  Kurt Busch         Dodge

 5.  Carl Edwards       Ford

 6.  Denny Hamlin       Toyota

 7.  Ryan Newman        Chevrolet

 8.  Kasey Kahne        Dodge

 9.  Mark Martin        Chevrolet

10.  Juan Montoya       Chevrolet

11.  Greg Biffle        Ford

12.  Matt Kenseth       Ford

13.  David Reutimann    Toyota

14.  Kyle Busch         Toyota

15.  Brian Vickers      Toyota

16.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet

17.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet

18.  Marcos Ambrose     Toyota

19.  Joey Logano        Toyota

20.  Jamie McMurray     Ford

21.  Casey Mears        Chevrolet

22.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet

23.  Kevin Harvick      Chevrolet

24.  Martin Truex Jr    Chevrolet

25.  Elliott Sadler     Dodge

26.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge

27.  AJ Allmendinger    Dodge

28.  Bobby Labonte      Ford

29.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dodge

30.  David Ragan        Ford

31.  Michael Waltrip    Toyota

32.  David Stremme      Dodge

33.  Paul Menard        Ford

34.  Robby Gordon       Toyota

35.  John Andretti      Chevrolet

36.  Sterling Marlin    Dodge

37.  Scott Speed        Toyota

38.  David Gilliland    Chevrolet

39.  Joe Nemechek       Toyota

40.  Dave Blaney        Toyota

41.  Patrick Carpentier Toyota

42.  Mike Wallace       Toyota

43.  Tony Raines        Dodge