Rain gives Kyle Busch Michigan pole

The session had already begun and eleven cars had completed their runs when drizzle forced officials to wave the yellow flag, hoping the skies would clear and the session would be restarted.

However rain intensified and following more than 30 minutes of waiting, officials decided to cancel the qualifying session, which means the field will be set based on the owners' standing, giving Busch his third pole position of the season.

Greg Biffle was at the top of the timesheets when the session was interrupted and he had been one of only two drivers, together with Mark Martin, who had lapped below the 39-second mark.

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson had topped practice ahead of qualifying with a lap of 184.308 mph and a time of 39.065 seconds, ahead of Gillett Evernham's Elliott Sadler and Robby Gordon.

Outside the top-35 in the owners' standing on the grid, former Cup champions Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott used one of their six allocated provisionals to start from 36th and 37th, followed by the drivers who run from 36th to 41st in the owner points.

Two drivers had to go home without a chance to try to make the field. Tony Raines will miss the race for the third time this season and Jason Leffler will also pack up early to go to Kentucky where he will compete in the Nationwide Series event on Saturday.

The weather is expected to disrupt the rest of the schedule at Michigan, including the ARCA RE/MAX Series race.

Forecasts for Saturday are more encouraging, although there's still a 30 percent chance of isolated storms for Sunday.