Rain puts Johnson on pole with Chasers right behind

CONCORD, N.C. -- Mother Nature handed points leader Jimmie Johnson the pole position for Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, raining on the parade of the 11 other drivers hoping to keep the two-time and defending champion from adding to his Chase lead.

Of course, Johnson on the pole at Lowe's Motor Speedway is like handing him the keys to Bank of America's vault: Johnson has five victories, eight top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 14 starts on the 1.5-mile oval.

He's the points leader, and by virtue of owner points, he'll start on the pole for Saturday's race due to persistent rain and mist over the speedway. The last time he started from the pole, he led 334 of 400 laps in winning the Coca-Cola 600 back in 2004. As such, his average finish is 9.1.

Next to him on the front row will be Carl Edwards, who is pretty good here as well, but not in Johnson's league. Edwards has seven career starts at Lowe's and he's brought it home in the top 10 six times. The best he's been able to do, however, is third place, which he's done twice. Edwards' average finish is better than Johnson's, at 7.6, but he's had half as many starts.

Greg Biffle will line up third on Saturday, and he's run well at Lowe's in the past. In 11 starts, Biffle has a pair of top-fives, including a second-place run in May, and four top-10s. His average finish is 19.3.

Jeff Burton will take off from outside the second row on Saturday, and he'll be looking to add a third victory at Lowe's to his Chase resume. Burton has won twice here, the last coming back in May of 2001, and he's on a run of four top-10 finishes in the past five races.

Burton has 29 starts at Lowe's in his career, and nearly half those (14) have wound up in the top 10. An average finish of 14.9 is way up among the Chasers, especially given his number of starts.

Clint Bowyer was second in this race last year, and that's his best performance in five career starts. His fifth-place start Saturday will help improve a 25.6 starting average, and his finishing average is 19.6.

Kevin Harvick rounds out the three Richard Childress Racing drivers in sixth, and he'll want to get his licks in on Saturday to improve on a 20.7 average finish. Harvick has made 15 starts at Lowe's, and he has a runner-up finish back in 2001, but that's about it other than two more top-10 results.

Tony Stewart will be in search of karmic payback on Saturday, lining up seventh and seeking the victory that eluded him in May. Stewart was leading by better than five seconds with three laps to go when his right-front tire let go, causing him to spin and eventually finish 18th.

Stewart, coming off a victory at Talladega last week, has one victory, six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 19 starts here, and since he drives for The Home Depot, would really like to earn another victory at Lowe's. His average finish is 13.2.

Jeff Gordon is pretty slick at Lowe's himself, having five victories in 31 career starts and a whole mess of top-five (15) and top-10 (17) finishes. He needs a victory in the worst way, having not crossed the line first since this race last year (35 races).

Gordon, who will start eighth, has nine DNFs among those 31 starts, and his average finish of 16.4 is middle of the road among Chasers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. would like a rewind back to 2000, when he came out of nowhere to win the All-Star race here. Exactly half his 18 starts have resulted in top-10 finishes, and he has five in the top five, but none better than third back in 2004. His average finish is also mid-pack among Chasers at 16.3.

Matt Kenseth earned his first career Sprint Cup victory at Lowe's back in 2000, taking the Coca-Cola 600, and that remains his only triumph at LMS. Eight top-10s, five top-fives and an average finish of 15.2 are his stats when he rolls off 10th.

Kyle Busch is looking for anything good right now, and a victory might not bring the swagger all the way back, but anything is better than his luck so far. He's finished third twice at Lowe's, including earlier this season, and has three top-10 finishes. Of course, he also has three DNFs as well. His average finish of 23.3 is worst among Chasers by more than two spots.

Denny Hamlin will shake off the cobwebs from his wall-banger at Talladega to start 12th, and he needs some help as well. In just six starts, he has three top-10 results with a best of eighth. His average finish is a respectable 16.3.

Many of the Chasers are good at Lowe's, and many have been consistently good throughout a long period of time. Johnson took over the active lap-leader title from Bill Elliott a couple of years ago, and both Stewart and Gordon have more than 500 laps led at LMS.

Johnson's total of 1,169 laps led in 14 starts at LMS is 10 more than Elliott's and 66 more than Mark Martin, who have combined for 104 starts.

Video
• Johnson: Coors Light Pole Winner | Stay the course