Five to Watch: First Sunday in Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Daytona Speedweeks is drawing the curtain on its opening acts with a stout Sunday twin bill -- Daytona 500 pole qualifying (12:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) and the Busch Clash (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM). With a pair of preliminary events on tap at Daytona International Speedway, here's five items to watch for Sunday's doubleheader.

CAN HENDRICK HOLD?: Hendrick Motorsports has won the Busch Pole Award for the Daytona 500 five years running, and the organization enters as the favorite again to claim a prime starting spot. But is it too much to presume that it's merely a four-car fight among teammates for qualifying bragging rights? "I woke up this morning thinking something along those same lines; which of the four Hendrick cars," said Jimmie Johnson, who has two Daytona 500 wins and also two poles for the Great American Race. "Then, it dawned on me that these guys have had all winter to work on stuff. There are new bodies on the Camaros. I chased that thought out of my head. I hope it comes back and we're going to find out in this next practice where we're going to stack up. But you just can't turn your back on this garage area. It's just too strong."

TIME TRIAL FORMAT: Only the fastest two qualifiers will be locked into the front row for the Daytona 500 after Sunday's qualifying session, with the rest of the lineup to be settled by Thursday's Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying races. The 40-car field will be made up of 36 chartered teams, two qualifiers through the Duel and two relying on their qualifying speeds. Seven drivers -- Chad Finchum, Brendan Gaughan, Justin Haley, Timmy Hill, Reed Sorenson, Daniel Suarez and JJ Yeley -- will be vying for the four open spots, meaning three teams will be left out after Thursday's qualifiers.

NO POINTS, NO PRESSURE?: Sunday's Busch Clash is primarily made up of last year's pole winners, with 18 cars going for 75 laps and no points on the line. But there's motivation, especially for defending race winner Jimmie Johnson, who had last year's trophy taken over by his daughters, who said he needs to win another to reclaim possession. The further motivating factor is pride. "There's a trophy at the end, plain and simple," Johnson said. "Every trophy counts, every trophy matters. Tomorrow night, someone is going to be the winner and I want it to be us."

CLASH PRACTICE SWEEP: Joe Gibbs Racing put down the gauntlet in the lone practice session for the Busch Clash, sweeping the top four spots on the speed chart. Erik Jones led the JGR quartet, but said that their early performance was no firm indicator of Sunday success. "I think we've got good cars, but I don't know how much it says for how we're going to race," Jones said. "We were in a tight pack, us four, but it definitely feels good to have speed anytime. It's definitely hard to tell. Those are really the same cars we're getting out for the 500, so a lot of differences, but I don't know."

CREWS YOU CAN USE: The reality of Team Penske's major crew chief swap sank in Saturday. There was Paul Wolfe, who was long known as right-hand man to Brad Keselowski, helping to push Joey Logano's No. 22 Ford back into its garage stall. It's a new world for the Penske bunch, who will get a jump on building at-track chemistry this weekend. "It is just learning everybody which I think makes you better," said Penske's Ryan Blaney, who is paired with Todd Gordon for the first time this season. "I think it will make you better working with someone new and getting a different voice in your head. They have a different mindset of going about things which changes your mindset about what you think about. It is a little different, but it just takes some time to get used to."