Rain gives Stewart Pocono pole

Back in June the current points leader inherited pole at the same track for the same reason but he was then forced to start from the rear of the field after switching to his back-up car for the race due to an incident during practice.

Regardless of what happens during Saturday's sessions, Stewart will still be secured the first box on pitroad, which he considers a crucial advantage as he looks to become the seventh driver in history to sweep both of the year's events at the track on Sunday.

"I'll take it," said Stewart of his fourth rain-earned fourth pole position of 2009 and his consequent favourable pit selection. "I am all for raining because of that. That is a selfish reason obviously. It would be nice to get on the racetrack today and get our practice session in. I'm okay if qualifying gets rained out.

"Really was a benefit having that first pit selection last time, especially our situation of myself crashing the car in practice and having to go to the back for race day. That helped us gain a lot of spots on pit road. It helped take what should have been an extremely long day and make it a good day."

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson will share the front row of the grid with Stewart, who was second fastest in the morning practice session, which was also halted by rain with more than 30 minutes of running still remaining.

Veteran Mark Martin was quickest in the session, which was dominated by Hendrick cars as Dale Earnhardt Jr was third ahead of Jeff Gordon, while Kyle Busch split them from the other two Hendrick-engined chassis of Stewart and Newman who were sixth and seventh fastest behind the 24-year-old.

The field for Sunday's 500-mile event will be set according to the owner point standings, which resembles the current status of the drivers' rankings up to 30th place.

Already expected to drop to the back of the field is Michael Waltrip, who damaged the bottom of the front end of his car in an incident during practice, when he got sideways out of Turn 3 and entering pit road.

There will be no drivers missing out on a start as for the first time this year only 43 cars were entered for the event.

Pos  Driver             Car
 1.  Tony Stewart       Chevrolet
 2.  Jimmie Johnson     Chevrolet
 3.  Jeff Gordon        Chevrolet
 4.  Kurt Busch         Dodge
 5.  Carl Edwards       Ford
 6.  Denny Hamlin       Toyota
 7.  Ryan Newman        Chevrolet
 8.  Kasey Kahne        Dodge
 9.  Mark Martin        Chevrolet
10.  Juan Montoya       Chevrolet
11.  Greg Biffle        Ford
12.  Matt Kenseth       Ford
13.  David Reutimann    Toyota
14.  Kyle Busch         Toyota
15.  Brian Vickers      Toyota
16.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet
17.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet
18.  Marcos Ambrose     Toyota
19.  Joey Logano        Toyota
20.  Jamie McMurray     Ford
21.  Casey Mears        Chevrolet
22.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet
23.  Kevin Harvick      Chevrolet
24.  Martin Truex Jr    Chevrolet
25.  Elliott Sadler     Dodge
26.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge
27.  AJ Allmendinger    Dodge
28.  Bobby Labonte      Ford
29.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dodge
30.  David Ragan        Ford
31.  Michael Waltrip    Toyota
32.  David Stremme      Dodge
33.  Paul Menard        Ford
34.  Robby Gordon       Toyota
35.  John Andretti      Chevrolet
36.  Sterling Marlin    Dodge
37.  Scott Speed        Toyota
38.  David Gilliland    Chevrolet
39.  Joe Nemechek       Toyota
40.  Dave Blaney        Toyota
41.  Patrick Carpentier Toyota
42.  Mike Wallace       Toyota
43.  Tony Raines        Dodge