Qualifying was rained out after 13 drivers turned qualifying laps for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway! The field will be set for Saturday night’s race by current owners points per the NASCAR rulebook. Even though rain has played some what of a factor this season, it’s just the third time this year qualifying sessions were rained out behind Martinsville and Talladega.

photo credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

It’s just another way it pays to be the points leader. Kevin Harvick inherits the number one starting position as well as allowing his team to be the first to select a pit stall.

“If there’s a caution at the end of the race, I’d take my chances on having that pit stall just to gain a few spots if you’re not leading the race,” Harvick said. “The other thing it creates is not getting run over with getting in and out of your pit stall and not getting damage on pit road.”

For the Coke Zero 400 starting line-up, click here (nascar.com)

The cancellation was bad news for Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Reed Sorenson. They were involved in an accident close to the end of the final practice session yesterday forcing each of them to go to back-up cars. They’ll have to start the race at the back of the field, because they weren’t able to practice or qualifying in their back-ups per a NASCAR rule for safety reasons.

Accidents and on-track mishaps seemed to be the theme of the day while showers loomed in the area.

Dale Earnhardt Jr brushed the wall early on during Happy Hour. Marcos Ambrose also suffered from a similar incident when he hit the wall soon after. Both teams started work on repairing the cars during that final practice session. Joey Logano went for a spin as he was approaching pit road.

During the first practice session Thursday afternoon, David Ragan got loose and was hit by Kyle Busch. Kasey Kahne was also involved as the two collided. The three of them were also forced to their back-up rides for the race.

“I don’t know what happened,” Kahne said. “The 18 and the 6 spun and they were down under the white line. I got slowed up and then the 6 came spinning back up and down the track again. I was surprised he came back up, but I just clipped him. I didn’t hit him hard, but hard enough to ruin our car.”

First Practice Session Top Speeds:
1.  Joey Logano, 193.932
2.  Clint Bowyer, 193.778
3.  Ryan Newman, 193.719
4.  Matt Kenseth, 193.715
5.  Tony Stewart, 193.648

Happy Hour Top Speeds:
1.  Robby Gordon, 195.126
2.  Greg Biffle, 194.317
3.  Marcos Ambrose, 194.250
4.  Kasey Kahne, 194.217
5.  A.J. Allmendinger, 194.133

TV coverage of the Coke Zero 400 starts at 6:30 Saturday night on TNT.