Chicagoland qualifying rained out, Kyle Busch awarded pole
Joliet, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Persistent rain during the late afternoon and into the early evening forced NASCAR to cancel Friday's qualifying for the first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship -- the MyAFibStory.com 400 -- at Chicagoland Speedway.
Qualifying for Sunday's 400-mile Sprint Cup Series race here was scheduled for 5:45 p.m. local time (6:45 p.m. ET). The Camping World Truck Series had qualifying slated shortly before Sprint Cup, but that too was washed out. Inclement weather forced the postponement of Friday night's 225-mile Truck Series race here until Saturday (7 p.m. ET).
Kyle Busch, who is one of the 16 drivers in the Chase field, earned the pole since he had the fastest lap in the lone Sprint Cup practice held in the early afternoon. Busch, the driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, posted a lap around this 1.5-mile racetrack at 191.442 mph. He started on the pole and won the July 2008 race at Chicagoland. Qualifying for that event here was also rained out.
'Practice for us went pretty well,' Busch said. 'It started out slow, but the guys did a real nice job on the (car) today to get us to where we needed to be...Having a good time there in practice means a lot, but there's obviously a lot of things that need to happen in the race this weekend for us and getting off to a good start and being able to carry that into the next 10 weeks.'
Ryan Newman, who's also in the Chase, will start alongside Busch on the front row. Newman is in his first season driving the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. He is beginning the playoffs from the 16th seed.
'We definitely saw the radar and the forecast as far as the chance of rain,' Newman said. 'We really didn't expect it to come as soon as it did, but nevertheless, we started our (car) in race trim and made one run, basically, and switched it over.'
Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards will start third and fourth, respectively, followed by Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, Paul Menard and rookie Kyle Larson. Edwards, Kenseth, Johnson and Gordon are in the Chase.
Other Chase drivers and their starting positions include: Kevin Harvick (12th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (13th), Kurt Busch (14th), A.J. Allmendinger (17th), Kasey Kahne (19th), Greg Biffle (20th), Aric Almirola (23rd) and Denny Hamlin (24th).
Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano struggled in practice and therefore will start deep in the field. Keselowski, who clinched the first seed by winning his fourth race of the season this past weekend at Richmond, will roll off from 25th. Logano, the fifth seed, will start 28th.
Sprint Cup teams will practice again on Saturday, with the first session scheduled in the morning and the final session slated for the afternoon. There is no rain in the forecast here for Saturday.
Persistent rain during the late afternoon and into the early evening forced NASCAR to cancel Friday's qualifying for the first race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship -- the MyAFibStory.com 400 -- at Chicagoland Speedway.
The 'new' Chase begins on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway. This year, NASCAR revised its playoff format for the Sprint Cup Series, expanding the field of drivers from 12 to 16 and including a series of elimination rounds to decide the championship. The number of drivers in contention for the title will decrease every three Chase races.
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