Rain hands Harvick pole at Daytona

Twelve drivers had already completed their flying laps when drizzle halted the session while Penske's Sam Hornish Jr was on provisional pole. However the rain intensified and NASCAR decided to cancel the rest of the running, thus forming up the starting grid based on the owner standings, which closely resemble the drivers' points.

Following a number of incidents in practice and the lack of grip drivers have found on the bumpy Daytona surface, Harvick anticipates having a good handling car will be even more than usual due to the new technical package - which couples a larger restrictor plate with the rear spoiler, in use for the first time at the track with the current car.

"For us we didn't have a lot of speed in our car for qualifying trim and we had already qualified so obviously that will make things easier at the beginning of the race to get going," said Harvick.

"And I think our car drives really well and that is going to be the key to both races this weekend - to be able to keep the throttle on the floor for more than four or five laps is a good thing. It's definitely going to be a handling race and we are looking forward to it."

Reigning chamion Jimmie Johsnon will start from the front row following back-to-back wins at Infineon Raceway and New Hampshire in the past two weeks, while Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin would line up in the second row of the grid, but the latter will be forced to start from the rear of the field as he did not run a lap in his back-up car, following an incident in practice after contact with Busch.

Former Daytona winner Tony Stewart will also be forced to start from the back of the field for the same reason, as will Red Bull's Reed Sorenson.

Michael McDowell and Todd Bodine failed to make the field.

Pos  Driver              Car
 1.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet
 2.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet
 3.  Kyle Busch          Toyota
 4.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota
 5.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet
 6.  Kurt Busch          Dodge
 7.  Matt Kenseth        Ford
 8.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet
 9.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet
10.  Greg Biffle         Ford
11.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet
12.  Carl Edwards        Ford
13.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet
14.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet
15.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet
16.  Joey Logano         Toyota
17.  Jamie McMurray      Chevrolet
18.  Martin Truex Jr     Toyota
19.  David Reutimann     Toyota
20.  Kasey Kahne         Ford
21.  AJ Allmendinger     Ford
22.  Juan Montoya        Chevrolet
23.  Paul Menard         Ford
24.  Reed Sorenson       Toyota
25.  David Ragan         Ford
26.  Brad Keselowski     Dodge
27.  Scott Speed         Toyota
28.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota
29.  Elliott Sadler      Ford
30.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge
31.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet
32.  Robby Gordon        Toyota
33.  Kevin Conway        Ford
34.  Robert Richardson   Ford
35.  Mike Bliss          Chevrolet
36.  David Stremme       Ford
37.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet
38.  Travis Kvapil       Ford
39.  Steve Park          Toyota
40.  Max Papis           Toyota
41.  JJ Yeley            Dodge
42.  Joe Nemechek        Toyota
43.  Dave Blaney         Toyota