Rain canceled NASCAR Cup Series qualifying Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, putting standings leader Chase Elliott in the top starting spot for Sunday’s USA Today 301.
Track-drying and a precipitation let-up after the qualifying washout opened the door for a brief Cup Series practice session, allowing teams and drivers to tune up for Sunday’s 301-lapper (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Rookie Carson Hocevar topped the speed charts in a session that ran for barely five of a scheduled 30 minutes, posting a 127.534-mph lap in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.
RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | Weekend schedule
Goodyear has wet-weather tires available at the 1.058-mile Loudon oval for both the Cup and Xfinity Series, but NASCAR competition officials deemed the track too wet to justify time trials on Saturday afternoon.
The threat of more rain in the forecast prompted officials to move the starting times for Saturday’s Xfinity Series event and Sunday’s Cup Series race up 30 minutes. That slots the Xfinity SciAps 200 for a 3:06 p.m. ET green flag and Sunday’s Cup event to go green at 2:06 p.m. ET, both to be broadcast on USA Network, PRN Radio, NBC Sports App and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
The starting lineup for Sunday’s Cup Series event was set according to the NASCAR Rule Book. As a result, Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will lead the field to the green flag. Ryan Blaney, last weekend’s winner at Iowa Speedway, will share the front row in the second starting spot in the Team Penske No. 12 Ford. William Byron, Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman complete the top five starters in order.
“Yeah, I mean obviously we’d rather have an actual pole, for sure,” Elliott said. “But you know, circumstances being what they are, fortunately our team has been performing at a really solid level over the past couple of months. The reality of it is that it put us in a position to have a good starting spot for a rainout situation. That’s just the reality of the weekend. Certainly, we’ll take a good starting spot, and more importantly, take a really good pit pick there on pit road.”
The track dried and opened for Cup Series practice at 2 p.m. ET, but rain resumed just five minutes later and no driver completed more than seven laps. Just behind Hocevar’s chart-topping speed was Michael McDowell’s No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford at 127.312 mph. Brad Keselowski, William Byron and rookie Zane Smith finished out the top five.
MORE: Cup Series practice results | At-track photos
Sunday’s event is the 18th of 36 races scheduled on the Cup Series calendar. Nine races remain in the regular season before the postseason kicks off on Sept. 8 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.