What was poised to be an active practice and qualifying session turned into a rainout for the NASCAR Cup Series at Michigan International Speedway.
Intermittent showers brought Saturday’s planned practice session to an end after just a handful of a minutes before washing out qualifying altogether. The starting lineup for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 was set by the rulebook, giving Denny Hamlin the pole.
Tyler Reddick will start alongside Hamlin on the front row, with Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace wrapping up the top five. Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Austin Dillon will complete the top 10.
Moisture threatened the session from the start, delaying the green flag by four minutes due to mist. Cars were able to take to the track, but the field was brought back to pit road after less than four minutes due to rain. Drivers were able to return to the racing surface roughly 10 minutes later, but rain arrived a second time nine minutes after and finally ended the session for good. NASCAR elected to call off both practice and qualifying to shift focus to Saturday’s planned Xfinity Series race.
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Chastain was quickest in the delayed practice session, completing a 37.766s (192.303mph) lap on the sixth of his 13 laps. Truex was second at 192.184mph, with Larson (192.179mph), William Byron (192.118mph) and Wallace (191.795mph) filling out the rest of the top five.
The Trackhouse driver is one of four racing near the Cup Series playoff bubble heading into the final three races of the regular season. He currently sits outside on a tiebreaker with defending Michigan winner Chris Buescher. Wallace is three points ahead, with Ty Gibbs 18 points clear of Chastain.
Wrapping up the top 10 were Elliott (191.724mph), Alex Bowman (191.601mph), Carson Hocevar (191.550mph), Buescher (191.469mph) and AJ Allmendinger (191.393mph).
All 36 drivers were able to complete laps despite the minimal track time. Truex ran a session-high 18 laps around the two-mile oval, with Hamlin completing the fewest laps (five).