Daytona quals great for some, horrible for others

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Sprint Cup qualifying is usually the perfect example of instant gratification for racers: You run a fast enough lap, and you're in the race.

But Daytona 500 pole qualifying, as well as the rest of Speedweeks, is a unique event and a setting for three-and-a-half days of agony waiting for Thursday's Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying races. All Sunday's session at Daytona International Speedway did was lock-in the front row for the 51st Great American Race, as well as four of the 22 go-or-go-home drivers.

First-time Daytona 500 pole winner Martin Truex Jr. and veteran Mark Martin are on the front row, but they were in the race anyway. Bill Elliott, Travis Kvapil, Tony Stewart and Terry Labonte are the happiest of the drivers in the go-or-go-home group because their speeds locked them into the 500.

Elliott was fastest in both Cup practices Saturday with a speed that would have been good enough for second if he ran it Sunday, but he wasn't second-guessing Sunday's effort.

"I think it says it on the board. We're the fastest of the Fords and that was a very impressive run as far as we're concerned," Elliott said. "It's kind of a double-edged sword being that we didn't get the pole, but there again, we're out of the top 35 in points and we needed a good, solid run; so that's kind of where we need to be."

The shame Sunday was that go-or-go-home drivers Regan Smith, Joe Nemechek and Boris Said, followed a couple tenths of a second later by Scott Riggs, A.J. Allmendinger and Brad Keselowski, turned decent speeds, but it doesn't matter.

The qualifying procedure is so slanted to favor the top 35 in the previous year's owners' points that not being locked-into the top-three speeds in qualifying leaves them -- as well as the other 11 go-or-go-homers -- with the daunting task of racing-in on Thursday. (Continued)