NASCAR Chicago 2014 qualifying results: Rain washes out qualifying, Kyle Busch awarded pole

JOLIET, Ill. -- Mother Nature was the first winner in the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup, as persistent rain, cool temperatures and a foreboding forecast forced the cancellation of Sprint Cup qualifying Friday at Chicagoland Speedway.

Per the NASCAR rule book, the starting lineup for the MyAfibStory.com 400 was set primarily using practice speeds. Kyle Busch was awarded the pole after posting a lap at 191.442 miles per hour in the lone practice session Friday, though he will not receive credit.

“Practice for us went pretty well,” Busch said. “It started out slow, but guys did a real nice job to get us to where we needed to be.

“Having a good time there in practice means a lot, but there’s obviously a lot of things that need to happen in the race this weekend for us and getting off to a good start and being able to carry that into the next 10 weeks.”

Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt Kenseth complete the top five.

Sunday’s race is the first in the 10-race Chase that will crown the Sprint Cup champion. Busch, Newman, Edwards and Kenseth all are playoff participants.

“I think qualifying trim is one thing, the race is another,” Edwards said. “It looked like some guys were really fast in race trim. I haven’t run a lap in race trim so hopefully we will be that fast. It is one step at a time for us.”

NASCAR canceled qualifying about an hour before its 6:45 p.m. ET start. Originally scheduled to run Friday night, the Camping World Truck Series race was postponed to Saturday night and will follow the Nationwide series race.

The cancellation of qualifying is a blow for Team Penske and championship contenders Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Keselowski had qualified on the front row in 11 races this season, including four pole positions. Logano has started second or better seven times.

Both drivers, however, lacked speed in practice. Consequently, Keselowski will line up 25th, Logano 28th.

The other Chase drivers will start: Jimmie Johnson (seventh), Jeff Gordon (eighth), Kevin Harvick (12th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (13th), Kurt Busch (14th), AJ Allmendinger (17th), Kasey Kahne (19th), Greg Biffle (20th), Aric Almirola (23rd) and Denny Hamlin (24th).