Johnson given pole at wet Martinsville

Rain washed out the only practice session scheduled for the day and with weather forecasts showing no sign of it letting up, officials decided to cancel qualifying for the ninth time this year.

Also for the ninth occasion this season, Jimmie Johnson will start from pole position - the fourth time it has been thanks to rain - sharing the front row with local driver Jeff Burton, who moved up to second in the championship battle following his victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway last week.

The starting grid is set based on the car owner standings, which almost resembles the current status of the drivers' championship.

"It's a huge advantage to have the first (pit) stall here," said Johnson, who won at Martinsville a year ago.

"I'm excited to be back here. I've been looking forward to this race in the Chase for a long time and hopefully we'll come out of here with good points and go to the next one."

Burton will start from the front row only for the second time this season and for the first at his home track. He believes good pit selection will be a plus for him as Johnson says, even if he doesn't regard his starting position as crucial.

"Pit selection here is maybe the most advantageous racetrack we go to have the first pit stall," said Burton. "Qualifying is important but I will say though that this is one of those racetracks that if you watch the races - and I go back and watch the races - a lot of times people have benefited by qualifying poorly here because of pit sequences.

"The way cautions fall here is so different to everywhere else and how you can pit, and what kind of tyres you need and those kind of things, that those sequences get so mixed up during the race that you'll find a guy who was 20th suddenly leading the race."

Derrick Cope and Sterling Marlin will miss Sunday's show, but Scott Speed will finally make his Sprint Cup debut given that his No.84 car is the last guaranteed the start of the race as it ranks 35th in the car owner standings.

"It's going to be a tough race, and I expect to get beaten up quite badly, like everyone else," said Speed ahead of his Cup debut at Martinsville, where he raced earlier this year in the truck series.

"The drivers are going to be really rough, and I'm not going to make a lot of friends out there being a rookie."

Weather forecasts for the rest of the weekend look better with only 20 per cent chance of rain for Saturday and nil for Sunday.

Pos  Driver             Car
 1.  Jimmie Johnson     Chevrolet
 2.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet
 3.  Greg Biffle        Ford
 4.  Carl Edwards       Ford
 5.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet
 6.  Kevin Harvick      Chevrolet
 7.  Tony Stewart       Toyota
 8.  Jeff Gordon        Chevrolet
 9.  Kyle Busch         Toyota
10.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet
11.  Matt Kenseth       Ford
12.  Denny Hamlin       Toyota
13.  David Ragan        Ford
14.  Kasey Kahne        Dodge
15.  Aric Almirola      Chevrolet
16.  Ryan Newman        Dodge
17.  Brian Vickers      Toyota
18.  Martin Truex Jr    Chevrolet
19.  Kurt Busch         Dodge
20.  Jamie McMurray     Ford
21.  Bobby Labonte      Dodge
22.  Elliott Sadler     Dodge
23.  Casey Mears        Chevrolet
24.  Juan Montoya       Dodge
25.  Travis Kvapil      Ford
26.  David Reutimann    Toyota
27.  Paul Menard        Chevrolet
28.  David Gilliland    Ford
29.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge
30.  Regan Smith        Chevrolet
31.  Michael Waltrip    Toyota
32.  Scott Riggs        Chevrolet
33.  Dave Blaney        Toyota
34.  Robby Gordon       Dodge
35.  Scott Speed        Toyota
36.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dodge
37.  Bill Elliott       Ford
38.  Mike Bliss         Toyota
39.  AJ Allmendinger    Dodge
40.  Ken Schrader       Toyota
41.  Chad McCumbee      Dodge
42.  Joe Nemechek       Chevrolet
43.  Tony Raines        Chevrolet

Did not qualify:

     Derrike Cope       Dodge
     Sterling Marlin    Chevrolet