Rain stops Dover qualifying

The session had just been restarted following a red flag caused by Chad Chaffin crashing in Turn 1 when the rain started falling.

The majority of the field (38 of the 47 drivers entered) had already qualified when the session was stopped, with Ryan Newman on provisional pole ahead of Jeremy Mayfield and Jeff Gordon. 

The present plan is for the remaining nine cars to qualify after the Craftsman Truck race, provided that the rain does not also disrupt the support series.

If conditions are such that qualifying has to be cancelled, then the starting order will be set by owner points.

This will have the ironic effect of vaulting series leader Jimmie Johnson from the back to the front of the field.

Johnson looked set to start last after spinning during his qualifying attempt, but if the session is abandoned then his points tally means that he will be awarded pole position.

Even when it looked like he was destined to start 43rd, Johnson was simply relieved to have avoided damaging the car.

"I just lost it off of (Turn) four and somehow kept it off the wall," he said.

"I knew I'd lost it and I was trying to keep it uphill, up towards the outside wall, and from there I got lucky and kept this racecar.

"I'm shocked. My guys are happy, it's like we won the pole.

"If I can't win the pole, at least I can put on a show..."