Truex, Martin earn top two positions for Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Martin Truex Jr. and Mark Martin, at least, know where they'll start next Sunday's Daytona 500.

Despite a qualifying session that occupied nearly three hours Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, no other driver is certain where he'll start the season-opening Sprint Cup points race.

Truex toured the 2.5-mile superspeedway in 47.872 seconds (188.001 mph) to knock Martin (187.817) off the provisional pole for the 51st running of the 500. Truex and Martin, who were teammates at Dale Earnhardt Inc. last season, will lead the field to the green flag next Sunday.

In addition, Truex will start from the pole in the first of Thursday's Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying races, and Martin will start from the top spot in the second qualifying event. The results of the Duel races will determine the starting order for the rest of the field. The top two finishers in each Duel outside the top 35 in 2008 owners' points make the race, along with the next three fastest qualifiers not already locked in.

"We're excited about it," Truex said. "It's not important to qualify up front, but we've never had a shot at the pole before, and it's nice to come here and have a shot.

"I felt a good bit [of wind] down the back, but it didn't seem to slow the car down too much. It was just kind of blowing me toward the bottom. It was more of a crosswind than a headwind, which was good."

Competing for the first time for Stewart-Haas Racing, Ryan Newman (187.778) was third in the time trials, followed by Juan Montoya (187.743) and Bill Elliott (187.739).

Jimmie Johnson, Aric Almirola, Travis Kvapil, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart posted the sixth- through 10th-fastest times, respectively.

Led by Truex's No. 1 Earnhardt Ganassi entry, Chevrolets posted the four fastest qualifying times and eight of the top 10. Elliott had the fastest Ford, with Kyle Busch (15th) the quickest Toyota and Reed Sorenson (28th) the fastest Dodge.

Elliott, Kvapil and Stewart also qualified for the 500. Their cars are not in the top 35 in owners' points, and they qualified by posting the top three speeds among drivers required to race their way into the field.

Despite posting the 50th-fastest time, Terry Labonte also knows he will compete in the 500. If he doesn't race his way into the field in his Duel race, he can use a past champion's provisional to claim the 43rd starting position.

Elliott, who topped the speed charts in both Cup practice sessions on Saturday, made a valiant run at the pole position, but his No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford scrubbed off speed through the final corner and fell to fifth at the checkered flag.

Notes: The pole is Truex's second, the first coming at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2007. ... Martin, who failed to win a pole in 2008 but started second six times, earned his 20th top-10 start in 48 races at Daytona. ... EGR placed three cars in the top seven. In addition to Truex, Montoya was fourth and Almirola seventh.