Rain prevented qualifying for the NASCAR Nextel Cup and Busch series cars yesterday at Dover International Speedway in Delaware, meaning the grid for this weekend's races was determined by car-owner points.

The downpour also caused postponement until today of the Craftsman Truck series event. David Starr won the pole in qualifying Thursday. The green flag waves at 9 a.m.

Jimmie Johnson was awarded the pole for the Nextel Cup race, and Greg Biffle will start on the outside of the front row tomorrow in the MBNA 400. Johnson leads Biffle by 71 points.

Busch points leader Carl Edwards got the pole for the MBNA 200 today, and fellow Nextel Cup driver Kevin Harvick was given the other front-row spot. Busch series regular Clint Bowyer will go from the second row, inside Biffle.

Champ Car

Jimmy Vasser and A.J. Allmendinger will share the front row for the Road Runner 225 today at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis., the first time Americans have qualified 1-2 in the Champ Car World Series in eight years.

Vasser took his ninth career pole and first since the spring of 2002 at Long Beach, with a lap of 176.235 mph yesterday. He was followed by Allmendinger, last year's top Champ Car rookie, at 176.001.

Vasser, the oldest driver in the series at 39, also gave the PKV Racing team its first pole in its three years of competition. Vasser is the "V" in PKV.

"It's very satisfying, and not from an ego standpoint," the former series champion said. "I came into this race team to help build it, to move it forward. That's the satisfaction for me."

The previous time two Americans started from the front row at a Champ Car event was at California Speedway in 1998, when Scott Pruett started from the pole alongside Vasser.

Englishman Justin Wilson was third yesterday at 175.867, followed by Brazilian Cristiano da Matta at 174.742, Canadian Paul Tracy at 174.685 and Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, the reigning series champion, at 173.965.

Spaniard Oriol Servia, subbing for Bruno Junqueira, injured in a crash Sunday in the Indianapolis 500, was ninth at 171.928.

Indy Racing League

Danica Patrick didn't win the Indianapolis 500 Sunday, but her performance helped ABC get the best rating for the race since 1996.

The race got a national rating of 6.5 with an 18 share, up 59 percent from last year's 4.7 with an 11 share.

The spike in interest can almost certainly be attributed to the presence of Patrick, who became the first female to lead a lap at the Indy 500. She was in contention for the win toward the end of the race before finishing fourth. Dan Wheldon won the race.

Patrick also has given other tracks a boost in sales.

She will ride in an IRL race in Colorado Aug. 21 at Pikes Peak International Raceway.

"I've had more phone calls yesterday [about the race] than I've had in the last five years combined," raceway president Rob Johnson said.

Indianapolis 500 winner Wheldon also is scheduled to ride in the Honda Indy 225 on the mile oval in Fountain, raceway officials said.

NASCAR Busch Series

NASCAR will not have impaired drivers racing around the track.

"We have a zero tolerance for that," NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said. "There is just no place for that in the sport."

On Thursday, Busch Series driver Shane Hmiel was suspended indefinitely for violating NASCAR's substance-abuse policy for a second time. NASCAR did not say what substance it believes Hmiel was using.

The 25-year-old driver was previously suspended for almost four months at the end of the 2003 season.

NASCAR tested Hmiel after qualifying for a Busch race Saturday night in North Carolina. He was permitted to race, but was suspended Thursday after NASCAR received a positive result from the test.

Hmiel crashed his car during that practice session at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He practiced his Busch car Thursday at Dover International Speedway, but was escorted out of the garage by several NASCAR officials before the second session. Currently 14th in the Busch standings, Hmiel was replaced this weekend by Ron Hornaday.