We ran the Gatorade Duel 160’s (not a typo) today at Daytona International Speedway and set the field for Sunday’s Daytona 500. Elliott Sadler won Duel #1 (both were extended to 64 laps via the green/white/checker rule) and he’ll start 3rd on Sunday. Jeff Gordon (who was already assured of the outside pole on Sunday) won Duel #2. Jeff Burton copped the Budweiser Pole last Sunday (and became the first qualifier for next year’s Bud Shootout) with a speed of 189.151. It’s the third top-spot of Burton’s career (he won the pole at Richmond in September of 2000 and at Michigan in August of 1996).
Jamie McMurray (6th) has his best starting spot since he had the pole at Pocono last July.
Dale Earnhardt Jr (7th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 4th at Dover last September.
Kyle Petty (12th) has his best starting spot since he qualified 10th at Richmond in September of 2003!
Ken Schrader (23rd) has his best starting spot since he lined up 7th at Bristol last August.
Welcome to Brent Sherman (29th)…..he’ll make his first ever Cup start on Sunday.
For my money the story of the day (and I live for these) is Kirk Shelmerdine (42nd). Little did we know last Sunday when he qualified 7th amongst the have-nots (edging out Paul Menard by 7/1000th’s of a second!) that we’d make it that far down the qualifying list today. Here’s hoping this will lead to a little more sponsorship down the line and a chance for Kirk to make a few more races (tho his car made three races last year Kirk only qualified it once….at Pocono in July).
STREAKIN….Carl Edwards has 4 Top-5 starts in the last 5 races. Mark Martin has 4 Top-10 starts in the last 5 races.(StockCarFans)(2-16-2006)
