NASCAR Richmond 2016 qualifying results: Rain hands Kevin Harvick the pole

Kevin Harvick was the beneficiary when rain washed out Sprint Cup qualifying Friday, as he inherited the pole position for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Steady rain throughout the afternoon forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying, necessitating it set the lineup per its rulebook. That gave Harvick, fastest in morning practice Friday with a speed of 129.069 mph, the No. 1 position. Joey Logano will start second, with Jimmie Johnson third, Carl Edwards fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth.

The pole is Harvick’s first of the season, though he will not get official credit due to qualifying being canceled. Currently ranked first in the series standings, Harvick has finished 10th or better in seven of eight races this season.

“We had decided to come into the weekend and approach qualifying a little bit different,” Harvick said. “We decided to go and try to take advantage of being the first car on the race track, which is usually a pretty big advantage here when the track is green and doesn’t have a lot of rubber on it. And so, it worked out.”

Tony Stewart, who is retiring as an active NASCAR driver at the end of the year, will start 18th in his season debut. The multi-time Cup Series champion missed the opening eight races with a broken back sustained in a January dune buggy accident.

Cole Whitt was the only driver who failed to make the 40-car field.

Toyota Owners 400 starting lineup