(Sports Network) - Persistent rain forced NASCAR (web | news) officials to cancel Friday's Sprint Cup Series qualifying at Pocono Raceway. Therefore, the starting lineup for Sunday's Pocono 500 will be set by owner points, according to the rule book.

Driver and owner Tony Stewart will start on the pole position in Sunday's 500- mile race since he is currently atop the standings.

"Obviously everybody is disappointed we didn't get on the racetrack today, but it worked out good for myself and Jeff (Gordon)," Stewart said. "It's nice to be able to get a front row starting spot because of rain."

Jeff Gordon will start on the outside pole.

"For us, it worked out well and got an extra day of rest, got a great starting position, great pit stall and now we'll just focus on the race Sunday by getting out there tomorrow with the car in race conditions," Gordon said.

Jimmie Johnson, winner of last Sunday's race at Dover, will roll off third, followed by Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman.

Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton will start sixth through 10th, respectively.

Derrike Cope, Mike Wallace and Tony Raines did not make the field.

Pocono is the second Sprint Cup qualifying session to be rained out this year. Qualifying for the March race at Martinsville was called off due to inclement weather.

Final practice for the Pocono 500 is scheduled for Saturday morning. The weather outlook looks much better with partly cloudy skies in the forecast.

Sunday's race is scheduled to start around 2:00 p.m. (et). The forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies with a 30 percent chance of rain.













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