For the second week in a row and for the third time this season, rain has given points' leader Tony Stewart pole position, this time for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
Qualifying for Saturday night's event was scheduled for Friday afternoon but rain halted Nationwide Series qualifying with only two cars left to complete their runs, and officials decided to allow time for the track to be dry in order to resume the session. However, with the schedule being pushed back due to the wait and the Nationwide Series race planned for later in the evening, it was decided to cancel Sprint Cup qualifying.
As the NASCAR rulebook states, starting positions will be determined according to the owner standings, which basically mirrors the current state of the drivers' championship, at least for those in the top 28 positions.
Stewart had inherited pole positions due to rain at Pocono, Loudon and now at Daytona. He lost pole position at Pocono after switching to a back up car and last week he finished fifth after staring first in a rain-shortened race at New Hampshire.
The two-time champion, who has won at Daytona twice in the summer event, was one of the strongest during Thursday practice while running in the draft, and is among the favourites to take victory after running strong in January at the 2.5-mile speedway, when finishing eighth on his backup car.
Jeff Gordon, a six-time winner at Daytona will start from the front row for the seventh time this year, while his teammate Jimmie Johnson will share the second row of the grid with Penske's Kurt Busch, who has reverted to the old version of the Dodge engine for this weekend.
David Reutimann had been fastest in the final practice session but he will start from the back of the grid after being forced to change the engine on his car after practice. David Ragan led the first practice session of the weekend and he will be starting the race from 31st.
Greg Biffle and Sam Hornish were involved in an incident also in the final practice, but none of them are expected to lose their initial starting position as they both planned to run the same engine from practice during the race.
Italian Max Papis and Mike Wallace will both miss Sunday's race as among the non-guaranteed drivers, they had the least number of qualifying attempts thus far.
RACER LINEUP:
Pos Driver Make
1. Tony Stewart Chevrolet
2. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet
3. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet
4. Kurt Busch Dodge
5. Carl Edwards Ford
6. Denny Hamlin Toyota
7. Ryan Newman Chevrolet
8. Kyle Busch Toyota
9. Greg Biffle Ford
10. Matt Kenseth Ford
11. Mark Martin Chevrolet
12. Juan Montoya Chevrolet
13. Kasey Kahne Dodge
14. David Reutimann Toyota
15. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet
16. Jeff Burton Chevrolet
17. Brian Vickers Toyota
18. Marcos Ambrose Toyota
19. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet
20. Casey Mears Chevrolet
21. Joey Logano Toyota
22. Jamie McMurray Ford
23. Elliott Sadler Dodge
24. Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet
25. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge
26. Reed Sorenson Dodge
27. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet
28. Bobby Labonte Ford
29. Michael Waltrip Toyota
30. AJ Allmendinger Dodge
31. David Ragan Ford
32. David Stremme Dodge
33. Paul Menard Ford
34. Robby Gordon Toyota
35. John Andretti Chevrolet
36. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet
37. Scott Speed Toyota
38. David Gilliland Chevrolet
39. Joe Nemechek Toyota
40. Dave Blaney Toyota
41. Patrick Carpentier Toyota
42. Tony Raines Dodge
43. Regan Smith Chevrolet