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Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski will start on front row as Chicago qualifying axed

Nick Bromberg
·College football and motorsports writer
It rained at Chicago on Friday, so qualifying got canceled (Getty Images).
It rained at Chicago on Friday, so qualifying got canceled (Getty Images).

The top two seeds in the Chase will start on the front row after NASCAR’s decision to cancel Friday’s qualifying session for Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Chicago.

Kyle Busch is awarded the pole while Brad Keselowski will start second as the field is set by owner points via the rulebook for the first race of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Rain arrived at Chicago during the middle of the day Friday and postponed the first practice session. NASCAR made the decision with practice for race setups being deemed more important than qualifying given the day’s packed schedule. Xfinity Series practice is also scheduled for the day as well as Friday evening’s Camping World Truck Series race and a qualifying session to precede it.

As Busch and Keselowski will start first, the 14 other Chase drivers will start behind them in positions 3-16. The qualifying washout creates the closest thing to a straight-up battle among the 16 Chase drivers as, barring any other rainouts, it’ll be the only time the drivers will start all next to each other. And in an odd quirk, it’s the third-straight time qualifying has been rained out at the track.

Here’s how the field will line up for Sunday’s race. Denny Hamlin, who starts third, won last year’s Chase opener at Chicago.

1. Kyle Busch
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Carl Edwards
6. Martin Truex Jr.
7. Matt Kenseth
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Joey Logano
10. Kyle Larson
11. Tony Stewart
12. Kurt Busch
13. Chris Buescher
14. Chase Elliott
15. Austin Dillon
16. Jamie McMurray
17. Alex Bowman
18. Ryan Newman
19. Kasey Kahne
20. Trevor Bayne
21. AJ Allmendinger
22. Ryan Blaney
23. Ricky Stenhouse
24. Greg Biffle
25. Danica Patrick
26. Paul Menard
27. Aric Almirola
28. Clint Bowyer
29. Casey Mears
30. Michael McDowell
31. Landon Cassill
32. David Ragan
33. Regan Smith
34. Brian Scott
35. Matt DiBenedetto
36. Cole Whitt
37. Michael Annett
38. Joey Gase
39. Reed Sorenson
40. Josh Wise

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!