Rain Doesn’t Let Up, Qualifying Canceled

A steady drizzle that fell almost all day Friday caused NASCAR officials to cancel qualifying for Sunday’s Winston Cup California 500 and today’s Busch Grand National Auto Club 300.

Cars will line up for both races according to their point standings.

Jeff Burton and Dale Jarrett will be in the front row Sunday, each in a Ford Taurus. Mark Martin, last year’s winner and Burton’s Roush teammate, will start third, alongside Bobby Labonte in a Pontiac.

Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace share the third row, with Dale Earnhardt, winner of last week’s DieHard 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, in the fifth row.

No cars appeared on the California Speedway track until 5:45 p.m. when the sun broke through and Busch Grand Nationals cars were given an hour of practice for today’s 300-mile race.

Winston West drivers, the least experienced, were not so fortunate. Their scheduled practice was wiped out and they will start today’s California 200 without having been on the track since Thursday’s qualifying.

Austin Cameron of El Cajon will start on the Winston West pole in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo with a record lap of 180.664 mph. This bettered the year-old mark of 179.623 mph set by Ken Schrader, who will start alongside Cameron in the front row today.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., last year’s Auto Club 300 winner and this year’s points leader, will be on the pole for the 11 a.m. start of the Busch Grand National race. Matt Kenseth, who won at Darlington Raceway two weeks ago, will join him in an all-Chevrolet front row.

Although he is the points leader, the young Earnhardt is winless this season. “I’d rather have the points lead than win races,” he said. “I look forward to hopefully changing that. Things have gotten better for us race after race. Hopefully, we’ll pull one off here.”

With no Winston Cup qualifying, Southern California hopefuls Butch Gilliland of Chino Hills and Boris Said of Carlsbad lost their opportunities to drive in the major race. Two other cars were similarly left out, leaving 43 to start.

Gilliland, however, will start from the fourth row in the Winston West race in a Ford Taurus.

Cup practice will be held around the two races today, from 8:30 to 9 a.m., and from 2 p.m. to 3.

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What do drivers do when rain washes out their racing day?

“I’ve tried to help my golf game, watching the Golf Channel,” said Dale Jarrett, who forsook a career as a tour golfer to drive a race car. “Seriously, there’s nothing we can do but talk about, ‘What if it rains the rest of the day,’ ” he said. Or the rest of the weekend.

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If Sunday’s race were postponed, it would be the first Winston Cup race rained out at Riverside, Ontario Motor Speedway or California Speedway since the 1980 Winston Western 500 at Riverside International Raceway. That year the race was stopped after 24 laps and completed the following Saturday. Darrell Waltrip was the winner, starting from the pole.

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Only three drivers have completed all 500 miles in the first two California 500s. Gordon won the first and finished fourth last year. Terry Labonte, his Hendrick Racing teammate, finished second and third. Ricky Rudd was third and 11th.

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Governor Gray Davis will serve as grand marshal for Sunday’s California 500, following in the footsteps of NASCAR boss Bill France Jr. and former California Speedway manager Les Richter.

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California Speedway Facts

TODAY

* 11 a.m. Auto Club 300 Busch Series Race (150 laps)

* 3:30 p.m. Winston West 200 race (100 laps)

SUNDAY

* 11 a.m. California 500 presented by NAPA (250 laps)