Rain gives Johnson Lowe's pole

A slight drizzle delayed the start of practice and eventually prevented the cars from taking to the track at all. Later the rain intensified and the weather forecast for the reminder of the day showed an increased probability of thunderstorms in the Concord area.

Qualifying was thus cancelled for the eighth time this year, giving Johnson the benefit of pole position for the third time this season due to rain. The reigning champion is a five-time winner at the track named after his team's sponsor.

"I do think it is a big advantage to start up front here," Johnson said. "The track has changed a lot, especially with this new asphalt that is down and the tyre we run on it. I think the advantage we had years back has kind of gone away.

"I mean, Kasey Kahne has had more momentum here I'd say than just about anyone so far in the last two or three years. We have been right there. We've been a good top-five car, but I hope we can get that magic back and find it here, especially with the Lowe's Chevy at Lowe's Motor Speedway."

Carl Edwards will start beside Johnson on the front row of the grid and ahead of teammate Greg Biffle, who was among the leading runners in the two-day test that took place two weeks ago at the mile-and-a-half oval.

"I'm really excited about being back here," Biffle said. "We had a great test a few weeks back and our company runs good on mile-and-a-halfs. I've always run real good here - two second-place finishes in the spring - certainly try and better that by one spot."

The first twelve places of the starting grid in fact resemble the status of the Chase, with the title contenders occupying the first six rows, while Roush Fenway's David Ragan starts from the lucky thirteenth spot. Kahne, a two-time winner at the track this year, will take the green flag from fifteenth on the grid.

Three drivers who were hoping to make their Sprint Cup debut this weekend were unfortunately left out of the field without getting a shot at qualifying.

Scott Speed will now head to Toledo to try to wrap up the ARCA RE/MAX Series title on Sunday, while Hendrick's Brad Keselowski and Ganassi's Bryan Clauson will focus on their Nationwide Series duties on Friday. None of them had the opportunity to earn a qualifying position for the Cup race, and neither did veteran Derrick Cope.

Starting order:

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

Did not qualify:

     Bryan Clauson      Dodge
     Derrike Cope       Dodge
     Brad Keselowski    Chevrolet
     Scott Speed        Toyota