Rain gives Gordon pole at the Glen

It is also the third occasion in the last four years that rain has prevented qualifying from taking place at the venue. Two years ago Tony Stewart took the benefit of the weather and pole position to win the race.

It will be the eighth time that Gordon starts from pole position this year, and only the second time he will do so at 'The Glen', a track were he has won more than any of his Nextel Cup rivals.

"Starting up front here is very important," said Gordon, who had been fifth in the morning practice.

"I don't even know what the forecast is for Sunday but I'm hoping that tomorrow morning we get some clear weather and we can make some laps because every lap is definitely crucial just to fine tune the car for Sunday."

Denny Hamlin will start alongside Gordon on the front row after he topped the morning practice session. He was the only driver able to lap the 2.42-mile road course in less than 72 seconds.

"I thought we were pretty good in practice," Hamlin said. "But qualifying here can go either way and you could have a shot at pole or you could've end up running off-course and getting 30th. Definitely we'll take second, it's good for us."

Matt Kenseth will get his best ever start at Watkins Glen from third on the grid, joined by Jeff Burton on the second row. Meanwhile, previous event winners and favourites Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick will start form fifth and ninth respectively.

Juan Pablo Montoya will be a man to watch on Sunday as he will be starting from eighteenth, having set the seventh fastest time in the morning practice in which he completed just nine laps.

"I think in race trim we look pretty good," Montoya said. "The main thing for us is two have two good races, learn a lot in the Busch race and if we can give them a win being my last Busch race it would be huge; then apply everything we know for the Cup race and if we can't win, try to come second."

Patrick Carpentier will be able to make the field for his maiden Nextel Cup outing, starting from 40th on the grid, and picking up one of the four spots remaining for drivers outside the top 35 in the owner points who can't benefit from the past champion's provisional rule.

Five road course specialists will not be on the grid on Sunday. German Klaus Graf, AJ Allmendinger, Brian Simo, Boris Said and Australian Marcos Ambrose have been sent packing as well as Ward Burton.

Pos  Driver              Car
 1.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet
 2.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet
 3.  Matt Kenseth        Ford
 4.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet
 5.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet
 6.  Carl Edwards        Ford
 7.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet
 8.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet
 9.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet
10.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet
11.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet
12.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet
13.  Kurt Busch          Dodge
14.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet
15.  Ryan Newman         Dodge
16.  Greg Biffle         Ford
17.  Jamie McMurray      Ford
18.  Juan Montoya        Dodge
19.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet
20.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge
21.  J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet
22.  David Ragan         Ford
23.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge
24.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge
25.  David Stremme       Dodge
26.  Ron Fellows         Chevrolet
27.  Ricky Rudd          Ford
28.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge
29.  Robby Gordon        Ford
30.  David Gilliland     Ford
31.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet
32.  Jeff Green          Chevrolet
33.  Kyle Petty          Dodge
34.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet
35.  Dave Blaney         Toyota
36.  Brian Vickers       Toyota
37.  Dale Jarrett        Toyota
38.  Terry Labonte       Toyota
39.  Bill Elliott        Ford
40.  Patrick Carpentier  Dodge
41.  P.J. Jones          Toyota
42.  Jeremy Mayfield     Toyota
43.  Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet

Did not qualify:

     Driver              Car
     Klaus Graf          Dodge
     A.J. Allmendinger   Toyota
     Ward Burton         Chevrolet
     Brian Simo          Dodge
     Boris Said          Ford
     Marcos Ambrose      Ford