Qualifying for NASCAR's Daytona 500 is not a simple task. In other Sprint Cup races, qualifying is performed by running a few laps.
For the Daytona 500, the first step is qualifying runs for the first row that was done last Sunday. This session also gave the drivers their position for the two qualifying heats that were run on Thursday afternoon. The starting field is then finalized by the results of those two races. On Thursday afternoon, Jeff Gordon (Chevy No 24) won the first 150-miler closely followed by Tony Stewart (now on Chevrolet No 14) who is driving for a totally new team, his own! The race was almost uneventful. The second 150-miler usually is a little more hectic. This time, it was almost calm until the final laps to the end. Kyle Busch (Camry no 18) took the lead but he was strongly challenged by veteran Mark Martin (Chevy No 5) who came close to pass him at the end! The best part is that two of the three last spots open in the field (other than the 35 guaranteed starting positions thanks to owner points, past champion provisionals and guaranteed spots following the initial time trials) were won by racing teams that were set-up at the last minute. Consequently, Scott Riggs (Camry No 36) is in with a Tommy Baldwin ride, Jeremy Mayfield (Camry No 41) is also in with a team that was built up in the few last weeks and so is A.J. Allmendinger (Dodge No 44) in a « temporary » Petty Racing team car. So, after seeing Kevin Harvick (Chevy No 29) winning the Bud Shootout, seeing Jamie McMurray (Ford No 26) dominate part of that race, seeing Martin Truex Jr.(Chevy No 1) getting the pole, closely followed by Mark Martin (Chevy No 5), seeing Jeff Gordon (Chevy No 24) winning the first qualifying race and Kyle Busch (Camry No 18) the second, who's going to win the Daytona 500? Your guess is as good as anybody's. Photos: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
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