SPARTA, Ky. -- Heavy rain forced the postponement of NASCAR Busch Series qualifying for Saturday's Outback Steakhouse 300 at the Kentucky Speedway.

A 45-minute rainstorm on Friday, which ended shortly before 6 p.m. EDT, doused the 1.5-mile tri-oval. The track could not be dried by 8:30 p.m., the time when pre-race activities were scheduled to begin for a 150-mile Slim Jim All-Pro race.

After nearly two hours of drying, a light rain again began to fall about 8:15 p.m. Track officials said they would do everything they could to run the All-Pro race Friday night.

"Instead of rushing through Busch qualifying and delaying everything throughout the night, we decided to go ahead and postpone it," said Tim Bray, the speedway's director of communications. "We have to make an attempt to get the All-Pro race in because we have a Goody's Dash Series event following the Busch race tomorrow."

Qualifying for the track's inaugural Busch Series event was rescheduled for noon Saturday, Bray said. The 200-lap race is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Saturday, followed by a 75-mile Goody's Dash Series event.

All 66,089 grandstand tickets for the race were sold in advance and only several hundred standing room only tickets remained Friday night for the event, which is expected to draw more than 70,000 fans.

According to the National Weather Service, Saturday's forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with high temperatures in the mid- to upper 80s with little or no chance for rain.