Qualifying washed away - cars will line up according to championship points

[R]

The qualifying at The Milwaukee Mile has been cancelled due to rain. The decision is that the cars will line up on the grid in the same order that they are placed in the championship. The question I have for the panel is the following:

Was this a good decision? Would it perhaps have been more fair to let Friday practice count as qualifying in an event like this?

[Speedworx]

They always use standings as grid, when qual is washed out. The same goes for NASCAR.

[SevenGrain]

Not So... In NASCAR the points are always used, but in CART the Chief Steward has discretion as to how the cars will line up in the event of rain washing out qualifying. There were many races when CART has used practice times to set the starting grid. The starting grid at Milwaukee in 1996 was one example of where practice times were used. The factors given consideration include the amount of practice time the competitors were able to get in. Yesterday, much of the practice was also rained out and there was only one timed session, therefore the decision was made to use points to set the grid. CART's rule book has no set guidelines as to how this decision is made, only that the Chief Steward's decision is not subject to protest.

[bella]

it's not fair really. it should have been done on practice times, because it's more relevant to pace on the track instead of generally.

[domaza]

Warm-Up is over and they said that no rain is threatning. Yes, that is really good news. We are going see a real good racing out there today. Let's hope that Dario will start passing guys today even he wasn't fast in Warm-Up. By the way de Fraan was fastest and Nakano crashed

[mac]

I don't feel it is fair for the grid to be based on standings. Practice, or even a Sunday morning qualifying session would have been more appropriate.

Consequently, guys like Andretti and Zanardi, who started the season slowly, but are starting to get cracking are forced to start well down the grid.

[SevenGrain]

With the ban on in-season testing there was an additional practice session added to Fridays. The first practice is a test session for the teams and then a practice follows in the afternoon. Because much of Friday was washed out all they got in was the test session. Some teams and drivers are still learning the track and not working on setting a fast time. Had they gotten both practice sessions in, CART most surely would have used practice times to set the grid as they did at Gateway in 1998 and at Milwaukee in 1996. A Sunday morning qualification session would not be very feasable on a day that has already scheduled a CART warm up, an Indy Lights Warm up, various presentations and ceremonies, an Indy Lights race and a CART race. The schedule is already very tight and many of the drivers have Sponsor or Media obligations to tend to in the little bit of free time available. Using points to set the grid was probably the best decision in this circumstance.