Rule book rules in rainout: With no qualifying, Kyle Busch sits on pole
Persistent cold rains at Chicagoland Speedway forced the cancellation of NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying Friday afternoon.
Because of the rainout, the field for Sunday's MyAFibStory.com 400 Sprint Cup race -- the first event in the 10-race, season-ending Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup -- will be set per the NASCAR rule book.
That means the polesitter will by Kyle Busch, who was fastest in the day's lone 90-minute practice round, running 191.442 miles per hour in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
The pole comes at the perfect time for Busch: In the past six races, the JGR driver has a best finish of 14th and four finishes of 36th or worse. That said, Busch was cautious about the speed in his car.
"It's a good representation for where we feel like we want to be and where we should be," said Busch. "But again, it's early. It's first practice and not everybody at the end of that first practice was in qualifying trim making qualifying runs. A couple guys did early on and whether the track picked up later or everybody just got better later in practice, speeds surely got quicker."
On Sunday, Busch will be flanked on the outside of Row 1 by Ryan Newman. The veteran qualified at 191.042 mph in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Starting on Row 2 will be a pair of Roush Fenway Racing Fords, with Carl Edwards qualifying third with a lap of 191.022 mph. Edwards' best lap was just 0.003 seconds faster than his teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Row 3 will be the Toyotas of Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer, followed on Row 4 by the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Paul Menard and Kyle Larson completed the top 10.
Among other drivers of note, Kevin Harvick qualified 12th, one position ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Danica Patrick will start 18th, Tony Stewart 22nd, Brad Keselowski 25th and Joey Logano 28th.
The cold temperatures helped speeds, as the top 22 cars all ran faster than the track qualifying record of 189.414 mph, set by Joey Logano.
