NASCAR at Richmond 2016: Complete Race Order After Qualifying Canceled

Kevin Harvick is officially the pole-sitter for Sunday's Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway, but his route to the coveted spot was anything but conventional.  

After rain threw NASCAR's qualifying schedule for a loop, the first position in Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race was handed to Harvick thanks to his stellar performance in the morning's early practice. 

According to NASCAR.com's Reid Spencer, Harvick clocked in the fastest time among practice participants at 129.069, and he will now start in the first position in Row 1 alongside Joey Logano. Said Harvick:

"

We had decided to come into the weekend and approach qualifying a little bit different, with just the way the race tracks have been and the timing of the practices. We decided to go and take advantage of being the first car on the race track, which is usually a big advantage here when the track is green and doesn't have a lot of rubber on it.

"

The top 20 starting positions for April's final Sprint Cup race can be viewed below, while the entire grid is available at NASCAR's official website: 

Position	Driver
1	Kevin Harvick
2	Joey Logano
3	Jimmie Johnson
4	Carl Edwards
5	Denny Hamlin
6	Brad Keselowski
7	Kurt Busch
8	Kasey Kahne
9	Kyle Busch
10	A.J. Allmendinger
11	Austin Dillon
12	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13	Matt Kenseth
14	Ryan Newman
15	Kyle Larson
16	Dale Earnhardt Jr.
17	Trevor Bayne
18	Tony Stewart
19	Greg Biffle
20	Brian Scott

Harvick, who currently sits atop the Sprint Cup driver standings, will be looking for his third top-10 finish since March 20 and his ninth overall this season, but the focus Sunday figures to be elsewhere. 

Specifically, it figures to fall on Tony Stewart, who is slated to make his return to the track after suffering a burst L1 vertebrae fracture Jan. 31. 

"As soon as the doctors said they were happy with my scans, I wasn’t going to wait any longer to get back in my racecar,"  Stewart said in a statement Thursday, according to USA Today's Brant James. "I’ve been on the sidelines long enough."

Sunday will also represent the beginning of the end for Stewart, who announced last September that 2016 would be his final season in the Sprint Cup Series. 

There will also be plenty of eyes on Carl Edwards—who will start in the No. 4 position after winning last weekend's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. 

Edwards enters Sunday's Toyota Owners 400 just one point back of Harvick in the Sprint Cup standings, and he hasn't finished worst than seventh since March 13. Furthermore, Edwards has just two finishes outside the top 10 in 10 starts this season, and both of those still came inside the top 20. 

With storylines abounding, Sprint Cup action shouldn't disappoint Sunday when the engines get revved up and rubber meets the road.