Elliott rekindles days of old, leads Daytona 500 practice (cont'd)

Even that wasn't enough to calm either Elliott or his team co-owner, Len Wood.

"There's nothing much a driver can do," Elliott said of his prospects. "But I think Len and Eddie [Wood] learned a lot last year. That's where David [Hyder, crew chief] and all the guys have done a good job on the details with this car, so we'll just have to wait and see."

Len Wood agreed.

"I felt nearly this good a year ago standing here at this time, but we managed to mess it up for qualifying," Wood said. "We burned a gear up and have tried to go over it a number of times. We've talked about not beating ourselves this year because last year we beat ourselves. I'm not saying we would have got in, but we would have been really close.

"This year we've got a really good shot at it. We've worked hard all winter and it kind of goes back to our plan with Ford and [director of Ford Racing] Brian Wolfe of preparing for every race we're going to and prepare properly. We're not going to do things we can't do."

For better or worse, that means Elliott's scenario won't change much this season as, barring an extraordinary set of circumstances, the Wood Brothers won't deviate from the team's plan to run only 12 races on superspeedways and 1.5-mile intermediate ovals.

Elliott, whose last Daytona pole came for the 2001 Daytona 500 in Dodge's return to the Cup level, has run partial schedules for the past five years, recognizes where he's at.

"I think we were getting better last fall and I think that was overshadowed," Elliott said of the sponsorship-driven, offseason decision to cut the team's schedule. "The Chase and everything else overshadows what you do. The problem with this whole sport is there is a select few that gets all the media and when you're not in [the garage] every week, it's tough to find your place at the end of the day.

Wood said the focus is learning from last year.

"We've got two cars that are nearly equal and it was a toss-up on which one we brought," he said. "This was actually a car we ran last year, but it's completely changed since then. Everything but the cage from last year has been changed.

"Doug Yates has got us a really good engine. We did driveline testing, wind tunnel testing, seven-post -- a lot of stuff with Ford's help. Like I said, the main thing is not beating ourselves. Hopefully, we can sit it on the front row. If not, we need to be in the top-three fastest of the ones that need to get in."

For Wood, who suffered through his family team missing only its third 500 in 50 years last season, said a good speed was more important than the front row.

"That would be nice, but I don't want to talk about that, yet," Wood said. "If we just do what we're supposed to and not beat ourselves, we should be fine."