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

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."

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