Last season, a number of drivers were burned by the combination of the Top-35 rule and rain on the day of qualifying for several NASCAR Sprint Cup events.Case in point? Boris Said.
The road course ace has tried to gather together sponsorship and a quality team together to compete in a handful of races every year, and his current situation has No Fear Energy Drink as the sponsor with support from Roush Fenway Racing.
That combination had Boris on the pole for last year's Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July -- until a rain storm canceled qualifying midway through the session, sending Boris home instead of into a race on the following night.
Friday, rain is possible and the NASCAR Scene has developed a list of go-homers in the event of rain. From the Scene:
The top 35 in owners points from 2007 are locked into the field. If qualifying is canceled, the first 35 positions are allocated by owners points from last year for the first five races of the season.
Barring any teams having missed the entry list deadline, the remaining eight spots would be allocated like this:
The 36th spot would go to Kurt Busch (Penske Racing) because he won a race last year. Busch is not in the top 35 in owners points from last year because the team transferred those points to Sam Hornish. The next two positions would go to past champions Dale Jarrett (Michael Waltrip Racing) and Bill Elliott (Wood Brothers Racing).
Because this is one of the first five races of the season, the next spots are filled by anyone in the top 35 in this year's owners points. That would put Red Bull Racing's Brian Vickers, MWR's David Reutimann and MWR's Michael Waltrip in the field.
The next spots would be based on qualifying attempts, with ties broken by current owners points. That would put Front Row Motorsport's John Andretti and Furniture Row's Joe Nemechek in the field.
Missing the race would be Furntiure Row's Kenny Wallace, Red Bull Racing's AJ Allmendinger, BAM Racing's Ken Schrader, Gillett Evernham Motorsports' Patrick Carpentier, Front Row Motorsports' Kevin Lepage, Bill Davis Racing's Mike Skinner and E&M Motorsports' Burney Lamar.
So there you have it. Print this article out and if it rains on Friday afternoon during Sprint Cup qualifying, you'll have the insiders knowledge.
Qualifying starts at 6:30pm/ET Friday.
