Rain forces race at Chicagoland Speedway to be postponed until Monday

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Updated: November 30, 2011 12:17AM

Gentlemen, kill your ­engines.

The Chase for the Sprint Cup was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Sunday with the running of the GEICO 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet. Trouble is, Mother Nature did not get the memo.

Rain that originally was predicted for later in the day began much earlier, and loyal-but-soaked fans spent the afternoon and evening in waiting. After the long process of drying the track for a second time was just about completed, another downpour hit at about 6:40 p.m. NASCAR officials postponed the race about 20 minutes later and rescheduled it for 11 a.m. Monday. It will be televised on ESPN.

Matt Kenseth, who is among the 12 Chase qualifiers, claimed the pole position during qualifying. He is the 11th different pole winner in the 11 years of Sprint Cup racing at Chicagoland.

The other Chase qualifiers starting the top 10 are Kurt Busch third, Ryan Newman fourth, Carl Edwards fifth, Brad Keselowski sixth and Kyle Busch ninth.

Kenseth won the pole with a speed of 183.243 mph. Paul Menard had a best lap of 183.243 and will start on the outside of Row 1. Greg Biffle will start seventh, Brian Vickers eighth and Joey Logano 10th.

As important as the opening race of the Chase is in the overall scheme of things, the weather was the talking point Sunday.

NASCAR president Mike Helton early in the afternoon issued a statement saying that because Chicagoland Speedway is a lighted facility and there is no noise ordinance in play, officials would wait, and wait and wait some more to run the race.

That promise was kept. But Helton, who two weeks ago dealt with a scheduled Sunday race at Atlanta being pushed to Tuesday, added, “There’s got to be a reasonableness to it. We appreciate the fans hanging in there with us, but it’s in everybody’s best interest to try to get it in.”

As for Monday’s weather, there is a chance for more rain during the morning, so an 11 a.m. start might be ­optimistic.