Busch qualifying canceled again

RICHMOND, Va. -- Inclement weather forced a cancellation of NASCAR Busch Series qualifying for the second consecutive week. Subsequently, series points leader Jack Sprague will start on the pole -- just like he did last week at California Speedway.

	Jack Sprague

Sprague will lead the field to the green flag in Friday night’s Hardee’s 250 at Richmond International Raceway. Jason Keller will start second, followed by Jeff Green.

Fourth on the grid will be last week’s winner at California, Scott Riggs. Two-time Busch champion Randy LaJoie starts fifth.

At approximately 3 p.m., ET, the National Weather Service announced that the Henrico County area was placed on a tornado watch, effective until 9 p.m.

Rain then began to fall over the three-quarter mile track at approximately 3:40 p.m., coupled with lightning, and pelted the track incessantly until NASCAR finally cancelled the session at 6:45 p.m.

With a 21.317-second lap at 126.659 mph, Johnny Benson had the fastest car in morning practice. That lap would have shattered Matt Kenseth’s track record lap of 125.780 mph set May 3, 2001. Due to the rainout and the fact that he did not participate in a series event last year, Benson did not qualify for the event.

Jimmy Spencer was second fastest in practice, some six hundredths of a second off of Benson’s fast lap. Greg Biffle was third fastest, followed by Riggs and Stacy Compton, who grew up just down the road from Richmond in Hurt, Va.