Pocono qualifying rained out, Johnson on pole

With rain prominent throughout the day Friday afternoon at Pocono (Long Pond,PA) Raceway, NASCAR canceled both Sprint Cup Series practice session as well as qualifying for Sunday’s Party In The Poconos 400.

The starting field for Sunday’s 400-mile, 160-lap event was set per the NASCAR rule book. By canceling the practice session set for Friday afternoon, the field was ultimately set by 2013 car owner points.

Jimmie Johnson, who leads the championship standings by 30-points over second-place Carl Edwards, will start Sunday’s race from the pole position.

“There are a lot of good benefits from starting on the pole, from track position to pit road picks,” said Johnson.

“We’ll take it. The great season that we’ve had so far and the quick start, it’s nice to have that. It’s one of the benefits (as the point leader) when things rain out. So we certainly earned this first starting spot, and we’ll try to take advantage of it on Sunday.”

Joey Logano, who won this race last season, will start in twenty-first.

In 71 Sprint Cup Series races at Pocono, this marks just the fifth time a qualifying session at the 2.5-mile track has been rained out. It also marks the third time this season rain has canceled qualifying.

Las Vegas and Talladega were the other races in which Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards started on the pole respectively.

With only 43-cars attempting to make the 43-car field, no drivers were bumped in the NASCAR rule book process.

Party in the Poconos 400 Starting Lineup 

1. Jimmie Johnson 
2. Carl Edwards
3. Clint Bowyer
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Kevin Harvick
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
7. Kasey Kahne
8. Kyle Busch
9. Paul Menard
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Jeff Gordon
12. Aric Almirola
13. Greg Biffle
14. Mark Martin
15. Martin Truex Jr.
16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
17. Denny Hamlin
18. AJ Allmendinger
19. Tony Stewart
20. Kurt Busch
21. Joey Logano
22. Jamie McMurray
23. Ryan Newman
24. Jeff Burton
25. Juan Pablo Montoya
26. Marcos Ambrose
27. Casey Mears
28. David Ragan
29. Bobby Labonte
30. Danica Patrick
31. David Gilliland
32. Dave Blaney
33. David Stremme
34. David Reuitmann
35. JJ Yeley
36. Josh Wise
37. Landon Cassill
38. Timmy Hill
39. Travis Kvapil
40. Joe Nemechek
41. Michael McDowell
42. Jason Leffler
43. Scott Riggs