Johnson & Waltrip capture front row for the Daytona 500

[BengalszoneBilly]

Johnson, Waltrip take front row for 50th Daytona 500

Rest of starting grid to be completed in Gatorade Duels

By Sporting News Wire Service

February 10, 2008

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- In Sunday's pole qualifying for the 50th Daytona 500, Jimmie Johnson affirmed the dominance of Hendrick Motorsports -- as if it needed affirmation -- by capturing the pole for the Feb. 17 Sprint Cup season opener.

Michael Waltrip backed up the improvement Toyota has shown during preseason testing by grabbing the other front-row starting spot. In the unique qualifying format for the Daytona 500, only Johnson and Waltrip know where they'll start next Sunday.

Johnson was the only driver to top 187 mph, as he powered his No. 48 Chevrolet around 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in 48.109 seconds (187.075 mph). Waltrip, the 48th of 53 drivers to attempt qualifying, ran more than a half-second faster than Johnson on his first of two laps but couldn't squeeze enough speed out of the second lap to knock the defending Cup champion off the pole.

Waltrip covered the distance in 48.197 seconds (186.734 mph) in his No. 55 Toyota. Sunday also brought good news for Joe Nemechek and David Reutimann, who qualified third and fourth at 186.498 mph and 186.463 mph, respectively. Both drivers were outside the top 35 in owner points and consequently weren't guaranteed starting positions for the 500.

With their efforts on Sunday, Nemechek and Reutimann locked themselves into the field, though they won't know their starting positions until the Gatorade Duel 150 qualifying races sort out the order on Thursday.

Dave Blaney was fifth-fastest in his No. 22 Toyota.

Johnson hadn't won a Daytona 500 pole since his rookie season in 2002. Though he finished second in Saturday's Budweiser Shootout car -- a backup car built for a short track -- Johnson withheld judgment on how his pole-winning car will behave in the qualifying races and the 500.

"We'll find out in the draft," said Johnson, who claimed the 14th pole of his career. "We haven't really had a chance to draft with this car -- we only took single-car runs in practice [saturday].

"But my guess is that this Lowe's Impala is going to be awesome."

Waltrip, who last year was penalized for an illegal fuel system additive on pole day, was elated by the performance of his Camry.

"I wanted to be the fastest of the cars with a star beside them," Waltrip said, noting the designation of cars not locked into the field on owner points. "Jimmie Johnson knew he was in the race when he woke up today, and I didn't.

"I've got to think that I'm the happiest guy at Daytona today."

Note: The Daytona 500 field is composed of the top 35 in owner points from last year, plus the two highest finishing cars from each of the Duel 150s not already in the race. In addition, four cars not otherwise qualified after the Duels are added to the field based on qualifying speed from Sunday, unless a past champion not otherwise qualified claims the 43rd starting position.

Waltrip, Nemechek and Reutimann ran the three fastest laps of those in the go-or-go-home group to lock themselves into the field. Three past champions outside the top 35 (Kurt Busch, Dale Jarrett and Bill Elliott) must race their way into the 500 on Thursday.

Only one past champion's provisional is available and it goes to the most recent champion not otherwise qualified. Busch won the title in 2004, Jarrett in 1999 and Elliott in 1988.

[cravnravn]

Toyota has been strong...In clean air, put a car in front of them and they turn to mush...Look at last night..Tony Stewart wouldnt have lost that race in his Chevy.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Toyota has been strong...In clean air, put a car in front of them and they turn to mush...Look at last night..Tony Stewart wouldnt have lost that race in his Chevy.

I think Junior just had more help from his team mates than Tony did. He gave a lot of credit for his win to Jimmie Johnson.

[cravnravn]

No doubt, JJ gave Junior a hell of a bump draft, but if this was last year and Tony was in the Chevy, I dont know we might have seen our first fight of the young season.

[BengalszoneBilly]

No doubt, JJ gave Junior a hell of a bump draft, but if this was last year and Tony was in the Chevy, I dont know we might have seen our first fight of the young season.

Didn't we already see that between Stewart and Busch?

[kenyon1977]

The cars are all the same except the engine. It's just stickers so throw out the Chevy vs Ford vs Dodge vs Toyota.

Someone check Waltrips intake for gelatinious jet fuel smeared on the inside.

[BengalszoneBilly]

The cars are all the same except the engine. It's just stickers so throw out the Chevy vs Ford vs Dodge vs Toyota.

Someone check Waltrips intake for gelatinious jet fuel smeared on the inside.

I'm sure they paid special attention to his intake mainifold.

[kenyon1977]

The cars are all the same except the engine. It's just stickers so throw out the Chevy vs Ford vs Dodge vs Toyota.

Someone check Waltrips intake for gelatinious jet fuel smeared on the inside.

I'm sure they paid special attention to his intake mainifold.

Isn't it interesting that the two drivers that got caught cheating last year are sitting one and two????????

[MacD BengalFan]

Expect Waltrip to fall off the picture in the 500. The cream will rise to the top during the race and Waltrip will find himself struggling to keep up. His team will not get the level of suppor that JGR will get from Toyota, thus he will be lucky to finish the race on the lead lap.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Expect Waltrip to fall off the picture in the 500. The cream will rise to the top during the race and Waltrip will find himself struggling to keep up. His team will not get the level of suppor that JGR will get from Toyota, thus he will be lucky to finish the race on the lead lap.

Toyota has extremely deep pockets. They can easily give all their teams top level support.

[kenyon1977]

Expect Waltrip to fall off the picture in the 500. The cream will rise to the top during the race and Waltrip will find himself struggling to keep up. His team will not get the level of suppor that JGR will get from Toyota, thus he will be lucky to finish the race on the lead lap.

Toyota has extremely deep pockets. They can easily give all their teams top level support.

Deep Pockets and an owner that''s not afraid of cheating??? He'll finish on the lead lap.

[cravnravn]

Im going to use a Toyota, curiosity has the best of me..But Im not convinced with them.

[MacD BengalFan]

Expect Waltrip to fall off the picture in the 500. The cream will rise to the top during the race and Waltrip will find himself struggling to keep up. His team will not get the level of suppor that JGR will get from Toyota, thus he will be lucky to finish the race on the lead lap.

Toyota has extremely deep pockets. They can easily give all their teams top level support.

Deep Pockets and an owner that''s not afraid of cheating??? He'll finish on the lead lap.

Toyota may have deep pockets, but the performance of Tony and Kyle shows where Toyota is placing the majority of its money. Micheal may have finished on the lead lap, but he faded and never contended as expected. His team will be lucky just to get one victory this season.

[kenyon1977]

Expect Waltrip to fall off the picture in the 500. The cream will rise to the top during the race and Waltrip will find himself struggling to keep up. His team will not get the level of suppor that JGR will get from Toyota, thus he will be lucky to finish the race on the lead lap.

Toyota has extremely deep pockets. They can easily give all their teams top level support.

Deep Pockets and an owner that''s not afraid of cheating??? He'll finish on the lead lap.

Toyota may have deep pockets, but the performance of Tony and Kyle shows where Toyota is placing the majority of its money. Micheal may have finished on the lead lap, but he faded and never contended as expected. His team will be lucky just to get one victory this season.

Kyle Busch had the car to beat Sunday. Too bad he's young and impatient.