NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at DAYTONA Watch FREE Live Stream Online & Listen: Live Coverage STARTING GRID

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Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s quest for the sixth Daytona sweep in NASCAR history, and second in the last two seasons, is going to be the hot topic of the day as today's race kicks off. However, David Gilliland snaring pole position, even if it was weather-aided, is something to pay attention to. Live stream today's race, which will air on TNT, for free by clicking this link.

There were supposed to be two more qualifying laps for the Top 24 drivers, but rain forced the cancellation of those two runs, giving Gilliland the advantage at the open. While Gilliland's name isn't as familiar as Earnhardt Jr.'s or some of the other drivers on the circuit, he isn't too surprised at his success in qualifying.

"Front Row Motorsports, our strong point is definitely speedway racing," Gilliland said. "It is something that's circled on our calendar from the start of the year. We put a lot of emphasis on it. The restrictor-plate tracks are good equalizers. David Ragan and I both have good enough cars to win, and that is an exciting feeling. It's something we don't have every week."

Gilliland finished third at the Daytona 500, which backs up his claim about the team's edge on speedways, but the entire qualifying process at Daytona left some drivers grumbling. Gilliland's teammate David Ragan called it "uncontrolled chaos," while Earnhardt Jr. seemed displeased with pockets of teammates slowing down to throw off other drivers.

"It's a mess," Earnhardt said. "You have to be in the very back and try to get a big tow. I ain't ever seen anything like it. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen."

Matt Kenseth also spoke up; "It was really wild and it was pretty dangerous. There's car doing 80 and there were cars doing 200 and nobody wanted to go. Everybody wanted to be in the back of the pack and try to catch the front to get a (fast) lap, so it was pretty chaotic."

Starting Grid:

POS DRIVER MANUFACTURER CAR SPEED
1 David Gilliland Ford 199.322 mph
2 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 199.221 mph
3 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 199.194 mph
4 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 198.970 mph
5 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 198.790 mph
6 Matt Kenseth Toyota 198.776 mph
7 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 198.697 mph
8 David Ragan Ford 198.684 mph
9 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 198.662 mph
10 Greg Biffle Ford 198.575 mph
11 Carl Edwards Ford 198.531 mph
12 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 198.474 mph
13 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 198.470 mph
14 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 198.373 mph
15 Aric Almirola Ford 198.234 mph
16 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 198.229 mph
17 Cole Whitt Toyota 198.116 mph
18 Marcos Ambrose Ford 198.103 mph
19 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 198.068 mph
20 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 198.059 mph
21 Paul Menard Chevrolet 198.055 mph
22 Casey Mears Chevrolet 198.042 mph
23 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 198.033 mph
24 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 198.015 mph
25 Trevor Bayne Ford 197.994 mph
26 Brad Keselowski Ford 197.850 mph
27 Michael McDowell Ford 197.820 mph
28 Joey Logano Ford 197.741 mph
29 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 197.724 mph
30 Brian Vickers Toyota 197.364 mph
31 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 197.273 mph
32 Michael Annett Chevrolet 197.217 mph
33 Josh Wise Ford 197.152 mph
34 Clint Bowyer Toyota 196.975 mph
35 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 196.691 mph
36 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 196.661 mph
37 Denny Hamlin Toyota 196.070 mph
38 Terry Labonte Ford 195.980 mph
39 Kyle Busch Toyota 195.972 mph
40 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 195.776 mph
41 Michael Waltrip Toyota 195.372 mph
42 Ryan Truex Toyota 193.183 mph
43 Alex Bowman Toyota 192.984 mph

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