RICHMOND, Va. -- Kevin Harvick will start on the pole in Friday night's Funai 250 NASCAR Busch Series race after a persistent rain forced the field to be set based on car owner point standings Thursday.

Harvick, a former Busch Series champion, will lead the way in front of the top five contenders in the tightest points race in series history. Harvick and Johnny Sauter have both been driving the car this season.

Points leader Scott Riggs will start on the outside of the front row in his Ford with David Green's Pontiac and Brian Vickers' Chevrolet in the second row. The third row has Riggs' teammate, Jason Keller, also in a Ford and Ron Hornaday in a Chevrolet. The five are separated by 79 points.

The contenders are 180 points behind the combined efforts of Harvick and Sauter in the Chevy owned by Richard Childress. Harvick has won three times in 11 starts -- tied with fellow Winston Cup regular Joe Nemechek for most wins in the series -- and Sauter has also run well.

But the owner-points lead doesn't matter to the drivers fighting for the title.

"This is five people that are pretty much virtually tied for the points lead," said Riggs, who leads Green by just 19 points. "I think everybody is trying to not focus on each other. We're doing what we need to do and that's focus on our own cars and our own race."

Green, the 1994 champion, said having four challengers is a "headache, times four," but an exciting way to head into the last nine races.

"The last one's the only one that really counts. This is just mixing the batter up to make the cake we have at Homestead," he said, speaking of the last race of the season. "You can sure waste your time away and lose the thing right now, but I don't think anybody can seal the deal now."

Vickers is 67 points behind Riggs, with Keller 70 back.

Vickers, who won last week at Darlington and is looking ahead to a Winston Cup ride with Rick Hendrick, thinks he's in the place to be.

"It's ours to gain and Scott's to lose," he said.