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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