Las Vegas qualifying rained out

The #1 McDonald's Chevrolet, driven my Jamie McMurray, and the #42 AXE Apollo Chevrolet, driven by Juan Pablo Montoya, seen covered in the garage area during practice

Getty Images for NASCAR

Brad Keselowski will start on the pole for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as rain washed out qualifying for the Kobalt Tools 400 Friday.

Because teams did not practice Friday, the starting lineup for the 43-car field was set primarily by 2012 owner points.

Mike Bliss is the only driver entered who will miss the race.

With the race being the third of this season, the top 36 teams from 2012 owner points will start in positions 1 through 36, with Keselowski, the 2012 Cup champion, and series runner-up Clint Bowyer on the front row.

With no past champions and no 2012 or 2013 race winners among those not already in the field, the next spots went to teams in the top 36 in 2013 owner points.

That means that Danica Patrick will start 37th, David Stremme 38th and Michael McDowell 39th. McDowell, who skipped last week’s race at Phoenix, is 28th in owner points thanks to a ninth-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500.

The remaining spots for positions 40-43 were determined by qualifying attempts this year, with ties broken by owner points.

Those spots went to Scott Speed, Landon Cassill, Joe Nemechek and Josh Wise. Bliss, 44th in the current owner points, will miss the race.

While Keselowski will start from the pole, he does not get credit for winning a pole and does not get an invitation to the 2014 Sprint Unlimited preseason event for pole winners.

Sprint Cup teams have two practices scheduled for Saturday morning in preparation for Sunday’s race (3 p.m. Eastern on Fox).

The National Weather Service predicts less than a 10 percent chance of rain for Saturday and Sunday.

Starting next week, 2013 owner points will be used to set the field in case of a rainout.

Here is the starting lineup for the Kobalt Tools 400:

Pos. Car No. Driver Car Owner Points
1. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (1st)
2. (15) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 2012 Owner Points (2nd)
3. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (3rd)
4. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (4th)
5. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (5th)
6. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 2012 Owner Points (6th)
7. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 2012 Owner Points (7th)
8. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (8th)
9. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (9th)
10. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (10th)
11. (56) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 2012 Owner Points (11th)
12. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (12th)
13. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 2012 Owner Points (13th)
14. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (14th)
15. (55) Mark Martin, Toyota, 2012 Owner Points (15th)
16. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (16th)
17. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (17th)
18. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 2012 Owner Points (18th)
19. (9) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (19th)
20. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (20th)
21. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (21st)
22. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (22nd)
23. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (23rd)
24. (78) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (24th)
25. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (25th)
26. (47) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 2012 Owner Points (26th)
27. (51) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (27th)
28. (93) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 2012 Owner Points (28th)
29. (34) David Ragan, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (29th)
30. (13) Casey Mears, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (30th)
31. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (31st)
32. (83) David Reutimann, Toyota, 2012 Owner Points (32nd)
33. (7) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (33rd)
34. (32) Ken Schrader, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (34th)
35. (36) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, 2012 Owner Points (35th)
36. (21) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 2012 Owner Points (36th)
37. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 2013 Owner Points (23rd)
38. (30) David Stremme, Toyota, 2013 Owner Points (27th)
39. (98) Michael McDowell, Ford, 2013 Owner Points (28th)
40. (95) Scott Speed, Ford, 2013 Attempts (2, 37th in owner points)
41. (33) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 2013 Attempts (2, 38th in owner points)
42. (87) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 2013 Attempts (2, 41st in owner points)
43. (35) Josh Wise, Ford, 2013 Attempts (2, 42nd in owner points)