Another pole by default

Jimmie Johnson will start from the pole Sunday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
This is the second time this season Johnson, last year's Cup champion, earned the pole because qualifying was rained out. The starting order was determined by owners standings from last year.
And unless Johnson can climb to first place in the Cup standings, it will be the last time he wins the pole by default. He is 13th in the Cup standings heading into Sunday's race.
“It’s going to be nice to have that first pit stall," said Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "And I don’t really care how we got it. We worked awfully hard last year to be where we are in points. We had a good day in practice today. We didn’t get a chance to make a qualifying run when the rain came. But we’ll take it and move on. It’s the last week for this luxury and we’ll take advantage of it and try to have a good race on Sunday.”
Jeff Gordon, Johnson's teammate at Hendrick, will start second. His team expected qualifying to be rained out and set up the car for race conditions.
“Today was a unique day," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "We were looking at the forecast and the radar and we didn’t think we were going to get qualifying in today. So we did nothing but race runs and I was a little concerned with what was going to take place. I love to qualify here and it’a a fun place. We’ve qualified well here before. But this is a great place to start on Sunday.”
Clin Bowyer, who has been struggling a bit in the first four races of the year and is 16th in the Cup standings, will start the Bristol race third.
“I think we definitely need some practice. We need to pick up some areas," said Bowyer, driver of the No. 07 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. "That’s what’s so hard about this car this season. It’s really been hit or miss for us on the 1.5-miles. We were loose, loose, loose. We could make the front end turn but we couldn’t keep the back end up with it. But we’ve certainly gained a lot of ground last week at Atlanta. I feel confident about that. That path didn’t work. Last year here we were really good. We finished seventh and third I think. We’re looking forward to the race. I think we can get it ironed out and be good.”
Bowyer was eighth in the spring race and third in the fall race at Bristol last year.