Yates once again a big pole threat at Daytona (cont'd)

Gilliland, 30, didn't even attempt to contain his excitement in the garage Saturday afternoon, knowing he could win his second consecutive restrictor plate pole, in only his second attempt, with a brand-new car.

"I'm very excited and I feel really good about our odds," Gilliland said. "I feel good about how strong we've been able to come out of the box, and with Todd Parrott and the success he's had here, it's an honor to come here and to be able to drive these cars.

"Ninety-nine percent of the work that goes into these cars is done at the shop and I think it's just a great tribute to our shop, our shop foreman and the guys working together to come here and to have two great cars."

Two-time Daytona 500 winner Sterling Marlin, who has one pole in 25 career Daytona 500 attempts, in 1992 while driving a Ford for legendary owner Junior Johnson, was third in the first session (48.534 seconds, 185.437 mph) and followed that up by making one run and logging the second best time in the second (48.363 / 186.093).

"That might be good enough for the front row but I think [Rudd's] going to be really tough to beat," Marlin said. "They were really quick down here in testing. We've gained on 'em, but they shot that [48].19 and we had a [48].36 -- I don't know if that was all they had and we might be able to pick up another 10th [of a second]."

Marlin was particularly happy to have a fast No. 14 Ginn Racing Chevrolet since he's not one of the 36 locked-in cars in the field, which includes 1999 Cup champion Dale Jarrett.

"You just hope that nothing happens, because you've got two more laps to run," Marlin said of Sunday's qualifying session. "We've been fastest of the go or go-home cars both sessions, so you do the things you do to the car and you hope it makes it faster.

"You'd like to sit on the front row and not have to worry about it, but if we get in the top three of the go or go-home cars, we'll be OK, speed-wise."

A second car in the top five of the second practice, Jeremy Mayfield's No. 36 Bill Davis Racing Toyota, which was fourth and the best Toyota in both sessions, also isn't locked into the field for the season opener and Mayfield said it's been forcing his team to focus.

"It's hard to weigh it all out," Mayfield said. "And that's what I keep telling everybody, is that you can't try to take it all at one time because you'll be in trouble. You have to take it one step at a time to get your job done.

"That means just taking it one practice session at a time, one qualifying session at a time and one race at a time. I know that sounds weird but if you try to take it in one big pill, you'll screw it all up.

"I can walk out of here satisfied [Saturday] because we gave it 110 percent, we didn't make any mistakes -- and that's what we've got to do every day until the first five races are over with.

"Right now, teams that are in the top 35 in the [owner] standings can screw up a practice session or a qualifying session -- but we can't. We can't make any mistakes."

Last year's front row starters for the 500, Jeff Burton and three-time race winner Jeff Gordon, had divergent fortunes Saturday.

Burton's No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was 47th in the first practice, but had a problem with its scoring transponder on its first run that did not register.

Burton's crew chief Scott Miller said he was satisfied enough with the way his team had tested that he was not compelled to even make an attempt in the second practice. (Continued)