The Associated Press

CONCORD, N.C. - Rain bumped Jerry Nadeau off the pole for the UAW-GM 500, putting series leader Tony Stewart and his closest pursuers in the tight Winston Cup points chase at the front for Sunday's race.

Nadeau, who has been with four teams this season and has only one top-10 finish in 27 starts, had the fastest of 18 cars that qualified at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Thursday night before the session was suspended by rain.

Qualifying on the 1 1/2-mile oval was scheduled to resume early Friday morning, but rain continued through the night and NASCAR decided to nullify Thursday's speeds and set the field by owner points, giving Stewart the pole.

Nadeau's fast lap of 184.666 mph was considerably slower than the pole-winning speed of 185.147 by Jimmy Spencer last October, and there were numerous contenders left when the rain came Thursday. "It's the story of my life - I have no luck," Nadeau said. "I know that, so I don't get upset about it any more."

"We had a shot at keeping (the pole). It would have been close, but (Ryan) Newman, (Kurt) Busch and (Joe) Nemechek all had a good shot at it, so who knows?"

Nadeau will start 39th in the 43-car field in his No.44 Petty Enterprises Dodge, a ride that appears in jeopardy for 2003.

He replaced Buckshot Jones in the car at Pocono in July and has not finished better than 21st.

His best qualifying effort of the season was third at Dover in June, when he was substituting for the injured Johnny Benson, and he has not qualified better than 12th for the Petty team.

BUSCH SERIES: Michael Waltrip won the pole for the Little Trees 300, barely beating Jeff Burton for the top spot at Lowe's.

With limited practice due to a rainy morning that forced NASCAR to cancel Winston Cup qualifying, the Busch cars qualified in bright sunshine with temperatures reaching into the 80s.

SAFETY CONCERNS: NASCAR is looking into ways to prevent the type of accident in which ARCA driver Eric Martin was killed Wednesday at Lowe's.

Martin spun during a practice on the 11/2-mile oval and hit the wall. He radioed his crew that he was not injured as his car slid to a stop on the banked track. About 15 seconds later, a car driven by Deborah Renshaw, slammed into his driver's-side door at about 160 mph, killing Martin instantly.

Renshaw was in a hospital Friday with multiple fractures in her left foot and ankle.

Several NASCAR drivers have said that a spotter on the roof, or caution lights spaced around the track or inside the cars, like the ones used in the Indy Racing League, might have saved Martin's life.

NASCAR, which is not affiliated with ARCA, requires spotters during races but not during practice.

"We are looking at the possibility of putting some sort of mechanism in the car," Jim Hunter, vice president of communications for NASCAR, said Friday. "(Managing director of competition) Gary Nelson is looking at that and doing some testing with it.

"We're going to have to decide whether we're going to mandate (spotters) or highly require it," said Jim Hunter, vice president of communications for NASCAR.