Pouring at Pocono, qualifying rained out

UPDATE

Old Spice Swagger is a perfect match for Stewart
Doug Belliveau /AR1.com

Qualifying is officially rained out at Pocono. Points leader Tony Stewart will start from the pole for Sunday's Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500. Stewart was sixth fastest in the practice and will run an Old Spice "Swagger" paint scheme for the weekend.

Swagger seems appropriate for Stewart, leading the points by a whopping 192 points with just six races remaining in the chase. Stewart won at Pocono in June after starting dead last in the field.

Pocono Raceway announced that anyone holding a ticket for Friday's qualifying will receive a $10 credit towards purchase of a ticket for tomorrow's event.

07/31/09 The first practice session was cut short at Pocono by rain and qualifying is in doubt for later in the day. Mark Martin was fastest during the abbreviated practice with just four laps on the track. The remaining Hendricks team mates joined Martin as next quickest with Johnson, Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon with just three laps each on the track. Kyle Busch was fifth fastest in practice.

Sam Hornish Jr was 10th fastest and made 18 laps at the tricky triangle, the most of any of the teams in practice..

Waltrip's primary car parked for the weekend
Doug Belliveau /AR1.com

Michael Waltrip was forced to go to a backup car after spinning and winding up in the grass. The damage to Waltrip's seemed minimal but a quick trip to the garage forced the decision to move to the backup.

One bright note on the rain… With only 43 cars entered in the race all of the Sprint Cup teams will make it into the race on Sunday.

Quote of the afternoon was from Carl Edwards after climbing from his car and observing his crew struggle to hold down their tent in front of his hauler, "Man does it rain all the time here?"

Starting lineup determined by points

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED
1	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Old Spice Swagger	N/A
2	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's	N/A
3	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	N/A
4	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	N/A
5	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Aflac	N/A
6	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Express	N/A
7	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Haas Automation	N/A
8	9	Kasey Kahne	Dodge	Budweiser	N/A
9	5	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	Cheez-It / Carquest	N/A
10	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	N/A
11	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	N/A
12	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Dewalt	N/A
13	00	David Reutimann	Toyota	Aaron's Dream Machine	N/A
14	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M's	N/A
15	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull	N/A
16	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	The Hartford	N/A
17	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	N/A
18	47	Marcos Ambrose	Toyota	iRacing.com, Kingsford, Clorox	N/A
19	20	Joey Logano*	Toyota	The Home Depot	N/A
20	26	Jamie McMurray	Ford	Crown Royal	N/A
21	07	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	Jack Daniel's	N/A
22	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Amp Energy, National Guard	N/A
23	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Shell, Pennzoil	N/A
24	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker	N/A
25	19	Elliott Sadler	Dodge	Stanley Tools	N/A
26	43	Reed Sorenson	Dodge	U.S. Air Force	N/A
27	44	A.J. Allmendinger	Dodge	Valvoline	N/A
28	96	Bobby Labonte	Ford	DLP	N/A
29	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	PPG	N/A
30	6	David Ragan	Ford	UPS	N/A
31	55	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	N/A
32	12	David Stremme	Dodge	Penske Racing	N/A
33	98	Paul Menard	Ford	Moen, Menards	N/A
34	7	Robby Gordon	Toyota	Robby Gordon Motorsports	N/A
35	34	John Andretti	Chevrolet	Taco Bell	N/A
36	09	Sterling Marlin	Dodge	Miccosukee Resort & Gaming	N/A
37	82	Scott Speed*	Toyota	Red Bull	N/A
38	171	David Gilliland	Chevrolet	National Leiomyosarcom-a Foundation	N/A
39	187	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	NEMCO Motorsports	N/A
40	66	Dave Blaney	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	N/A
41	36	Patrick Carpentier	Toyota	Guy Fieri Knuckle Sandwich	N/A
42	64	Mike Wallace	Toyota	Air Combat USA, Fred's Store	N/A
43	37	Tony Raines	Dodge	Long John Silver's	N/A