NASCAR postpones Richmond races

With tropical storm Hanna turning into a Hurricane while moving up north into the east coast of the United States, the anticipated weather has moved into the Richmond area, hampering not only the Sprint Cup qualifying but also the Nationwide series session.

Given the weather forecasts for Saturday, which show 100 per cent chance of rain with up to four inches expected, NASCAR decided to postpone the Chevy Rock & Roll 400, which was originally scheduled to take place at night.

The new start time for the race is Sunday 1:00 pm US Eastern time, and the Nationwide Series race, which was scheduled for Friday night, will now take place after the Sprint Cup event, around 7:00 pm US Eastern time.

"With the forecast being what it is, which is really really bad, we've decided to just postpone everything until Sunday in cooperation with the track," said NASCAR's Jim Hunter. "We'll leave the impound on cars and let guys do what they need to get ready for a day race instead of a night race."

"With the impending weather coming this way, we felt like this was the right thing to do for the fans, for the competitors, for the track and everybody."

Kyle Busch will then start from pole position on Sunday and for the fifth time this year, this being the third he has been handed the top spot due to the cancellation of a qualifying session. He has only earned two pole positions on the track, first at Las Vegas and then at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

The field will be determined according to the rulebook by the owner point standings, leaving the field almost in identical shape as that of the drivers' championship. Clint Bowyer will then benefit from the situation, as he had been far slower than Chase seeding contender David Ragan in the morning practice.

Jeff Gordon set the fastest time in the two-hour session, which is the only one for the weekend. The two-time winner at Richmond set his best lap on a qualifying simulation at the end of practice, being followed in the order by David Ragan and Juan Pablo Montoya, who topped the timesheets for most of the running.

Most teams worked mostly on race trim given the weather forecasts, which already indicated earlier today that there was a very slim chance of the race actually taking place on Saturday night as scheduled.

The cancellation of qualifying left three drivers out of the field for Sunday's race, including Joey Logano, who had been an encouraging tenth in practice in anticipation of his Sprint Cup debut, which will now have to wait for a week at least.

Ironically, Logano will start the Nationwide series race from pole position due to the owner standings in the second-tier series.

Tony Raines and Sterling Marlin will also miss the field for Sunday's Cup event.