For the second straight week, rain has plagued NASCAR, forcing them to cancel qualifying.
NASCAR officials announced on Friday afternoon that planned qualifying sessions for both the Xfinity Series and Sprint Cup Series at Kentucky Speedway have been cancelled.
JJ Yeley and Kyle Larson are on the poles for tonight’s Xfinity Series race and tomorrow’s Cup Series race, respectively.
Ryan Blaney, Travis Kvapil and Michael McDowell all fail to make Saturday’s Cup race as a result of the cancellation. McDowell and Blaney took to Twitter to voice their displeasure.
https://twitter.com/Mc_Driver/status/619565488604114945
Mother Nature is playing with my emotions.
— Ryan Blaney (@Blaney) July 10, 2015
Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. will round out the top five of the starting lineup for tomorrow’s Quaker State 400.
The cancellation comes as a shift of NASCAR’s focus from qualifying to making sure Cup teams get a chance to practice their new low-downforce rules package for this weekend’s race. NASCAR will use the time formerly slated for qualifying for a 90-minute Cup series practice session once the racing surface is dry.
2015 QUAKER STATE 400 STARTING LINEUP
Aaron Bearden is a Frontstretch alumnus who’s come back home as the site’s Short Track Editor. When he isn’t working with our grassroots writers, he can be found talking about racing on his Morning Warmup newsletter, pestering his wife/dog or convincing himself the Indiana Pacers can win an NBA title.
For the second week in a row, Mother Nature shafts The Wood Brothers and Leavine Family Racing! I hope Blaney makes the field at Indy and wins the race. Then he and the Woods can thumb their noses at good ole Mother Nature and at NASCAR! But, given the crappy weather in the northeast and northern Midwest, it’ll probably rain there too!