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NASCAR did not attempt to qualify in the rain on Friday because no team was able to get any practice in beforehand. Then on Saturday, about eight drivers got to qualify before it started raining again. Attempting to qualify the rest of the field would have created an unfair advantage for those who qualified early in the dry conditions since NASCAR qualifying in a one lap deal.
Overall, I think NASCAR did the right thing not trying to re-qualify in semi-wet conditions on Saturday. All it would have taken is another death of a driver to make it look like a terrible decision. Watkins Glen is an extremely fast road course with lots of fast downhill sections. NASCAR Winston Cup cars do not have the downforce compared to a F1 or Champ car so this would make the cars even more difficult to drive in slick conditions due to lack of grip. Also NASCAR teams and drivers have very limited experience racing in wet conditions. The only one that I know of is the exhibition race at Suzuka, Japan a couple of years ago when they qualifed for the race in the rain.
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