Storms cancel qualifying session
With buckets of rain falling sideways at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, NASCAR canceled Thursday night's Sprint Cup Series qualifying session.
The wicked late afternoon and evening weather, which also forced the cancellation of a Nationwide Series practice session, means Saturday's starting grid for the LifeLock.com 400 will match the Sprint Cup standings for owner points.
Series leader Kyle Busch will be on the pole for the third time this season. Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts second in the front row, followed by Jeff Burton and Carl Edwards in the second row. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon will start in Row 3.
Of Busch's six Sprint Cup wins this season, none have come from the pole. And even though no pole winner has won any of the previous seven Sprint Cup races at Chicagoland Speedway, the hottest driver in NASCAR is anxious to meet the challenge.
"Leading the field to the green on Saturday night is going to be fun," Busch said. "I'm looking forward to it.
Nationwide advantage?: Because this weekend will feature the debut of night racing at Chicagoland Speedway, Sprint Cup drivers also competing in tonight's Dollar General 300 Nationwide Series race will get a sneak preview of the track conditions under the lights in Joliet.
"This is a big unknown because we've never run here at night, obviously," Burton said. "There's a lot of questions that we have to answer. We're running the Nationwide race (tonight) and one of the reasons I'm running it is because I want to try and understand the difference between day and night."
Edwards, who will compete in both races along with fellow top-12 Sprint Cup drivers Burton, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart, believes the advantage will be minimal.
"The Nationwide car is so much different from the Cup car that nothing really transfers," Edwards said. "It's just fun."
Back in the seat: When Chip Ganassi Racing shut down its No. 40 Sprint Cup car because of a lack of sponsorship, NASCAR rookie Dario Franchitti lost his ride for the season.
Ganassi, however, is still running its No. 40 Nationwide Series car, which Franchitti will drive in tonight's Dollar General 300. It was good timing for Franchitti, who won from the pole in last year's IndyCar Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.
Franchitti plans to meet with Ganassi today, when he expects to learn more about his future with the team.
Fielding questions about the possibility that he may head back to the IndyCar Series after only one season in NASCAR, Franchitti waved off the speculation.
"I don't know yet," he said. "I don't know what the options are going to look like until certainly after (today's meeting). The phone's been ringing, which has been nice, from all kinds of places. We'll see what happens."