Mother Nature Puts Stewart On Pole At Daytona

July 3, 2009 6:03 p.m. EST

Daytona Beach, FL (AHN) - For the second time in as many weeks Mother Nature put points leader Tony Stewart on the pole in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Stewart started at the front last week in New Hampshire and Friday's thunderstorms canceled any attempts of qualifying, giving Stewart the front starting spot for Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

"We had a car at the 500 here that drove really, really well. That's a bigger factor at this race than it is even in February. So, I'm excited about it,'' said Stewart. "I'm excited about it. I think we've got a good shot at having a very good finish this weekend."

The scheduled 8 p.m. Friday night Nationwide race and closing window forced NASCAR to make the call and set the 43-car field via the NASCAR rulebook. Jeff Gordon will start on the outside row and Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards fill out the top-five starters.

"You can't control Mother Nature,'' said Gordon. "That's been what's biting us, not the schedule or anything like that.''

Max Papis and Mike Wallace were odd-men out and didn't qualify for Sunday's race since qualifying was rained out.

Papis was wheeling the No. 13 Toyota of Germain Racing and Wallace was operating the No. 64 of Larry Gunselman, who considered putting Jeremy Mayfield in the ride before his sponsor balked at the idea.

Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth will start in sports six through 10.

"We weren't going to be in third, I know that much,'' said Johnson. "It's definitely going to help our starting position.''