Rained-out NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying would send home one team

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Friday, October 23, 2009

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Forty-four cars are at Martinsville Speedway in an attempt to qualify for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Tums Fast Relief 500 today, with Josh Wise being the driver that would go home if qualifying was rained out.

Derrike Cope has withdrawn the Cope/Keller Racing entry because of the weather forecast. Cope will replace Mike Wallace in the Gunselman Motorsports car, according to NASCAR.

If he was driving his own car, Cope would have missed the race if qualifying is rained out. Qualifying is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. EDT, with Camping World Truck Series qualifying scheduled after that.

The National Weather Service forecast has gotten better overnight, with the chance of rain dropping from 50 percent to 30 percent this afternoon. Sundown is scheduled for about 6:30 p.m. and there are no lights at the track.

If qualifying gets rained out, the top 35 in Cup owner points make the field, and the rest of the spots are determined by previous race winners (owner and driver), past champions and then the teams that have had the most qualifying attempts, with ties broken by owner points. Cope’s team only has six attempts this year while Gunselman’s team has 17. Wise's H&S Motorsports team would fail to make the race based on its number of attempts to make races this year.

Sprint Cup teams are scheduled to practice from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday, while the Truck teams are scheduled to practice from 10 a.m.-11:20 a.m. and 1:10-2 p.m.

The forecast for the remainder of the weekend calls for an 80 percent chance of rain Saturday but clear on Sunday with a high in the low 60s.
 

Comments

9 responses to "Rained-out NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying would send home one team". Post a Comment.
  1. 1
    TheAntiBowtie said:
    Oct 23, 2009 at 8:50 AM

    With only 43 cars now entered, help save some nonrenewable recourses, draw starting spots by picking numbers out of a hat.

    With how comical NASCAR has become with many of their rules, I can't see this one posing any problems. After all, it isn't about the racing anymore. It is everything BUT racing.

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  2. 2
    TheAntiBowtie said:
    Oct 23, 2009 at 8:54 AM

    opps, I meant 44. How can they justify sending ONE car home when qualifying isn't about speed anymore-its about sponsors and corporations.

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  3. 3
    SmokeLover said:
    Oct 23, 2009 at 10:43 AM

    Rain rain go away, come again some other day.

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  4. 4
    SmokeLover said:
    Oct 23, 2009 at 10:45 AM

    But not Sunday.

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  5. 5
    lten11 said:
    Oct 23, 2009 at 1:42 PM

    Get the rain tires out for the qualifiying and the race, lets make it more interesting.

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  6. 6
    ktgrosch said:
    Oct 23, 2009 at 1:46 PM

    Poor Derrike, like he's ever competitive when he is lucky enough to "fill" the field. A washout for qualifying unfortunately makes it just one step closer to helping Chad & Jimmy win #4 in the captivating race for the Chase. Zzzzzzzz...

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  7. 7
    keith308 said:
    Oct 23, 2009 at 2:09 PM

    Sure is tough to make the cup field this year. One driver won't make it. What a joke! Spend your money next week in Little Rock, AR. for the ASCS Short Track Nationals. Over 112 sprint cars entered from 23 states and only 20 starting positions in the feature. This is racing and not NASCAR. No mirrors, no radios, no lucky dog, no chase, no fake cautions, get my drift!

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  8. 8
    sibbi173 said:
    Oct 24, 2009 at 8:25 AM

    Exactly Keith.....Exactly!!

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  9. 9
    rwilliamhayes said:
    Oct 24, 2009 at 10:10 AM

    A bunch of nobodies that shouldn't be there anyway.
    How did France car ever come up with 43 for the number of starters?You would think it would be an even number.24 sounds about right with the rest being in the "Loser Cup Series".The way it works is the bottom 5 in SC join the LCS for the next week while the top five in the LCS join the SC group.It rotates like that all year long.

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