WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - A wet track from earlier rain prevented qualifying Friday at Watkins Glen Inter- national, giving Nextel Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson the pole for Sunday's Sirius at The Glen.

Teammate Jeff Gordon will start second in a field set by car-owner points. Gordon, coming off a victory in the Brickyard 400, will be seeking his unprecedented fifth victory on the Watkins Glen road course.

New Petty team

Kyle Petty says that he's trying to put together a team to run some races in the Grand American Road Racing series. He's driven in Grand Am races this season at Daytona and Phoenix when the Cup series was not racing.

"It's the first step toward branching out and trying to expand Petty Enterprises in some other areas beside NASCAR," Petty said. "The heart and soul of our business is the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, but with the Grand American series and what they've done this year and over the last couple of years ... there's a strong growth potential with that series and especially the race tracks they run."

Simple theory

Dale Jarrett on how to be successful at Watkins Glen: "You pretty much have to drive 90 laps out of control."

Jarrett, who is trying to make his way into the top 10 for the championship chase, has finished in the top 10 in four of the last six races at Watkins Glen.

Number crunching

Ricky Rudd is expected to make his 825th career Cup start this weekend at Watkins Glen. ... Kyle Petty is expected to make his 700th career Cup start this weekend. ... Michael Waltrip is expected to make his 200th consecutive Cup start this weekend.

- Wire, staff reports