NASCAR at Bristol 2017 Qualifying Canceled; Kyle Larson Awarded Pole Position

Qualifying for the 2017 Food City 500 was rained out Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. Because of the cancellation, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leader Kyle Larson was awarded pole position based on owner points.         

Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano will round out the top five when the green flag waves Sunday afternoon.

Here's a look at the complete starting order for the eighth race of the 2017 season:

Position	Car No.	Driver
1	42	Kyle Larson
2	24	Chase Elliott
3	78	Martin Truex Jr.
4	2	Brad Keselowski
5	22	Joey Logano
6	21	Ryan Blaney
7	18	Kyle Busch
8	1	Jamie McMurray
9	14	Clint Bowyer
10	4	Kevin Harvick
11	48	Jimmie Johnson
12	6	Trevor Bayne
13	31	Ryan Newman
14	77	Erik Jones
15	41	Kurt Busch
16	11	Denny Hamlin
17	5	Kasey Kahne
18	43	Aric Almirola
19	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
20	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.
21	3	Austin Dillon
22	20	Matt Kenseth
23	19	Daniel Suarez
24	13	Ty Dillon
25	47	AJ Allmendinger
26	27	Paul Menard
27	37	Chris Buescher
28	95	Michael McDowell
29	10	Danica Patrick
30	34	Landon Cassill
31	72	Cole Whitt
32	32	Matt DiBenedetto
33	38	David Ragan
34	15	Reed Sorenson
35	83	Corey LaJoie
36	23	Gray Gaulding
37	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt
38	51	Timmy Hill
39	55	Derrike Cope

Sunday's race marks the second Cup Series competition at Bristol since it underwent changes last summer. According to Jim Utter of Motorsport.com, those alterations included "polishing" the lower racing groove at the short rack and adding a substance to improve overall grip.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will start 20th after a sluggish start to the campaign, will be racing on the surface for the first time after missing the latter stages of last season with concussion concerns. He told Kenny Hawkins of WJHL on Thursday he liked the changes:

"

They didn't go all in adding as much as they could so there is certainly more that can be done if they want to increase the ability to run that bottom groove they know now what options they got but I thought it was awesome they tried it and it's certainly outside of the box and comfort zone for the track to take that kind of risk but I'm glad they did and we've learned something so we can maybe apply that not only at Bristol but to other race tracks.

"

This week's pole-sitter didn't sound nearly as enthusiastic after Friday's practice session:

Whichever driver is able to adapt the quickest could fill the void as the Bristol spring race's dominant figure. It's a void that opened following the offseason retirement of Carl Edwards, who won two of the last three editions of the Food City 500.

Rain could put a further damper on the weekend schedule, though. The Weather Channel forecast projects a 100 percent chance of precipitation Sunday with high temperatures only reaching the upper 50s. A chance of showers carries into Monday.

Larson will lead the field to the starting line Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on Fox if the rain holds off.