The difference is that, this week, the defending Cup champion didn't have to earn the top position.

Rain washed out Friday's Sprint Cup qualifying session at the track, forcing a start for Sunday's race according to the rule book. That means the top 35 cars in 2007 owner points will occupy the top 35 starting spots, with Johnson on the pole, Jeff Gordon on the outside of the front, Clint Bowyer third, two-time defending race winner Matt Kenseth fourth, and so forth.

Under rainout rules, all eligible past champions also make the field, so Kurt Busch, Dale Jarrett and Bill Elliott will start in positions 36, 37 and 38, respectively.

The final five spots go to Brian Vickers, David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip, John Andretti and Joe Nemechek, the top five in 2008 owner points not otherwise qualified. AJ Allmendinger, Ken Schrader and Patrick Carpentier (all drivers who attempted to qualify for the Daytona 500 but failed to make the race) will go home without racing for the second straight week. Burney Lamar and Mike Skinner also will miss the race.

"I'll tell you now I don't agree with that rule of top 35 anymore too much," Carpentier said with a wry smile. "It puts us behind a little bit, and for us, we were kind of banking on these tracks because we tested here the first three, and after that we go to tracks that we haven't tested at.

"I said that I knew it was going to be a challenge, but I didn't think it was going to be that big of a challenge. We'll see. For me, I firmly believe that we're going to get out of it, going to come back in (the) top 35, but it's going to take time."

Note: There will be no qualifying at California this weekend. Friday's Craftsman Truck Series time trials also were a victim of the rain, and the rescheduling of practice sessions for the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and truck series on Saturday squeezed Nationwide qualifying from Saturday's schedule.

No drivers entered in the Nationwide or truck series will miss their respective races. The Nationwide Series had 42 entries, one short of a full field. With 35 entries, the truck series also was one short of a full complement of drivers.