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

Gordon was fourth in the first practice (48.625 seconds, 185.090 mph) and fifth in the second (48.501 / 185.563) on his only attempt, but wasn't too optimistic about his chances.

"Nobody's got anything for those Yates cars [though] maybe Marlin does," Gordon said. "We're just trying to get the best starting position that we can for the [qualifying races]."

Yates' drivers Gilliland and Jarrett qualified on the front row for last fall's UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway and the Yates Fords were qualifying dynamos at all four plate races last season.

The No. 88 Fusion, which Jarrett drove for the last 12 seasons before moving to Michael Waltrip Racing's Toyota program for this year, averaged a fourth place start in 2006 and was never worse than seventh.

The No. 38 Fusion, which was driven by Elliott Sadler for the first two-thirds of the season and Gilliland in the last 14 races, averaged a fifth place start in 2006 and also won the spring Talladega pole with Sadler.

On Saturday, Rudd continued to prove he's thriving in a mentor's role to his teammate who, while not a youngster, has only 15 Nextel Cup starts. Gilliland will start his first Budweiser Shootout, a special event for pole winners, Saturday night.

Rudd said he would sit with a team radio in a prime vantage point in the grandstands to observe his teammate and the cars' handling characteristics.

"You won't hear anything from me unless I've got something positive to say," Rudd said. "I just want to watch the cars and how they behave after a certain number of laps, to see if they pick up the aero push we always used to have in traffic."

Rudd's impact isn't lost on Gilliland, who scored a stunning Busch Series victory last summer at Kentucky Speedway for independent owner Clay Andrews.

"It's awesome," Gilliland said of working with Rudd. "We've worked together for just over a month and we've become really good friends. He's welcomed me with open arms, and as a rookie driver, you come to these tracks -- like Daytona, I've never been here and I've never raced here.

"You get out of the car [after practice] and you've got a question, and if you can't get it answered, you go out in the next practice and you've got another question. Pretty soon you've got all these questions, and no answers -- and you kind of get lost in the thought process.

"To be able to get out [of your car] and to go to somebody like Ricky Rudd, where you don't even have to question or think about whether he's being straight-up with you. He's 100 percent right-on with everything with me and to be able to have those questions answered immediately just gives me a little bit more confidence -- and that's what this deal's all about.

"A big part of it is the driver having confidence."