Fri Feb 22 19:39:42 2008

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Sprint Cup qualifying cancelled by rain

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Fontana, CA (Sports Network) - Jimmie Johnson, the 2007 Sprint Cup Series champion will sit on the pole for Sunday's Auto Club 500 Sprint Cup race. The No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Lowe's Chevrolet gets the top spot by virtue of his title after bad weather struck the two-mile newly named Auto Club Speedway at Southern California just before qualifying was scheduled to begin.

Most of the track activities had already been cancelled after an earlier storm hit the area. They tried to dry the track, but cracks in the surface allowed water to push up onto the oval.

Starting on the front row with Johnson will be teammate Jeff Gordon, who finished second last season.

It will likely be about the "bounce back" effort of Hendrick Motorsports who started their Florida week with a win in the Budweiser Shootout (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), a win in one of the two Gatorade Duels (Earnhardt Jr. again) and a pole win (Jimmie Johnson), but fell flat in the "Great American Race."

At Fontana, HMS has had a history of success. Johnson has two wins and six top-fives in 10 starts and Gordon made the turn to Victory Lane three times with seven top-fives in 15 starts.

On the other hand, Earnhardt Jr. has never had much success at the California Speedway. His statistics show no poles, no wins and just four top-10s in 12 starts. In 2002, he suffered a huge accident with Kevin Harvick while the No.29 Chevy was trying to get to pit lane and the resulting concussion stayed with him for much of the season.

Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth will start in row two.

Other drivers of note and their starting positions: Tony Stewart (sixth), Carl Edwards (ninth), Harvick (10th), Denny Hamlin (12th), 2008 Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman (13th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (15th), Kasey Kahne (20th), Juan Pablo Montoya (21st) and Kyle Busch (22nd).

After spending three weeks in Florida, the series travels across the country for race No.2. It will also be a completely different race now that the restrictor-plates are off the engines.

The race at Daytona was all about handling and being in the right place at the right time. Newman was in the right place - on the outside row with teammate Kurt Busch locked on his rear bumper. That resulted in Newman's first win at Daytona and the first win for owner Roger Penske in the Daytona 500.

Not only did "The Captain" get a one-two finish from his two stars, he got a surprising 15th-place finish from "rookie" Sam Hornish Jr., who struggled just to make the race in 2007 and had a best finish of 30th in two starts.

This week at the California Speedway in Fontana, CA it will be less about handling and more about making horsepower.

A.J. Allmendinger, Ken Schrader, Patrick Carpentier, Mike Skinner and Burney Lamar failed to make the field, because of the rain.

The teams will try to squeeze in some practice on Saturday and the race is scheduled to drop the green flag at 4 p.m. (et).