Today at 1:00 p.m. ET arguably NASCAR's biggest race of the year will get underway from Daytona Speedway in Florida, when the Daytona 500 kicks off with legendary driver Jeff Gordon sitting atop the pole. Watch the race on Fox, or live stream it free by clicking this link.
While several drivers blasted NASCAR's qualifying format after some turbulence ahead of the Daytona 500, Jeff Gordon had no issues. In his final NASCAR season, Gordon is kicking it off right by winning the pole.
"This format is crazy and chaotic," Gordon said. "It can be extremely rewarding when you have a day like we had."
Other drivers, such as Ryan Newman, didn't find the experience so rewarding.
"It's hard to stand behind NASCAR when everybody I talk to up and down pit road doesn't understand why we're doing this," Newman said. "Maybe I need to be sat down and educated a little bit."
NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell tried to placate the angry drivers while defending the new format, which was changed in order to make qualifying more interesting for NASCAR's growing fan base.
"We don't want to see wrecks of any kind. Not lost on us how much work goes into these cars by the teams, the efforts for our biggest race of the year," O'Donnell said. "We've got a really good track record of making adjustments where we need to, so we'll certainly evaluate what took place."
Most importantly, NASCAR got a great storyline out of this qualifying session with Gordon opening the race in first position.
"I can't think of anything cooler than to start this season, the Daytona 500, my final Daytona 500, final full season, on the pole," Gordon said. "It's going to be pretty important for me to be on that pole when it all starts."
STARTING GRID
POS
DRIVER
MANUFACTURER
CAR
SPEED
1
Jeff Gordon
Chevrolet
201.293 mph
2
Jimmie Johnson
Chevrolet
201.135 mph
3
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Chevrolet
N/A
4
Kyle Busch
Toyota
N/A
5
Joey Logano
Ford
N/A
6
Carl Edwards
Toyota
N/A
7
Tony Stewart
Chevrolet
N/A
8
Greg Biffle
Ford
N/A
9
Clint Bowyer
Toyota
N/A
10
Martin Truex Jr.
Chevrolet
N/A
11
Kevin Harvick
Chevrolet
N/A
12
Ryan Blaney
Ford
N/A
13
Kasey Kahne
Chevrolet
N/A
14
Reed Sorenson
Chevrolet
44
N/A
15
Jamie McMurray
Chevrolet
N/A
16
Mike Wallace
Toyota
N/A
17
Landon Cassill
Chevrolet
N/A
18
Justin Allgaier
Chevrolet
N/A
19
Cole Whitt
Ford
N/A
20
Danica Patrick
Chevrolet
N/A
21
Paul Menard
Chevrolet
N/A
22
Ryan Newman
Chevrolet
N/A
23
Michael McDowell
Ford
N/A
24
Kurt Busch
Chevrolet
N/A
25
J.J. Yeley
Toyota
N/A
26
David Gilliland
Ford
N/A
27
Michael Annett
Chevrolet
46
N/A
28
David Ragan
Ford
N/A
29
Kyle Larson
Chevrolet
N/A
30
Austin Dillon
Chevrolet
N/A
31
Ty Dillon
Chevrolet
N/A
32
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Ford
N/A
33
Aric Almirola
Ford
N/A
34
Michael Waltrip
Toyota
N/A
35
Matt Kenseth
Toyota
N/A
36
Johnny Sauter
Toyota
N/A
37
Trevor Bayne
Ford
6
N/A
38
Sam Hornish Jr.
Ford
N/A
39
Brad Keselowski
Ford
N/A
40
AJ Allmendinger
Chevrolet
N/A
41
Casey Mears
Chevrolet
N/A
42
Denny Hamlin
Toyota
N/A
43
Bobby Labonte
Ford
N/A
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