CONCORD, N.C. — As a result of persistent rain that moved into the Concord area Saturday morning, Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Drive for the Cure 300 has been scrapped, handing Daniel Suarez the top grid spot at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
NASCAR officials officially called for the cancellation of qualifying at 12:07 p.m., just two minutes after the scheduled start of round one.
As a result, the field was set by the rulebook, which reverts to car owner points.
The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota leads the NASCAR XFINITY Series owner’s championship by nine points over Team Penske’s No. 22 Ford, despite the latter’s victory at the hands of Ryan Blaney last weekend in Dover, Del.
Suarez and Blaney will line up side-by-side on the front row for the 200-lap, 300-mile race, which is scheduled to take the green flag at 3:01 p.m. ET from the 1.5-mile quad-oval in the Queen City.
Erik Jones, a teammate to Suarez at Joe Gibbs Racing, will roll off third in the No. 20 Toyota.
A pair of Chevrolet drivers completes the top five starting positions, with Alex Bowman rolling off fourth in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing machine and points leader Justin Allgaier starting fifth in the No. 7 JR Motorsports entry.
William Byron, Elliott Sadler, Daniel Hemric, Brennan Poole and Ty Dillon fill out the first five rows on the grid.
The full starting lineup for Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race can be viewed on the next page…
