NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 400 Qualifying Update

Daytona International Speedway -- 07/05/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Saturday Jul 5 2008 2:06pm

Although there was only one practice session for this week's Coke Zero 400 in Daytona, it was an eventful one, with two fairly high-profile drivers involved in noteworthy incidents.

One story broke just before the first practice on Thursday, when it was learned that the No. 1 car of Martin Truex Jr. had been confiscated by NASCAR after failing to fit the roof templates in opening day inspection.
As a result, Truex (+6000) did not turn a lap in the first practice session.

But the more serious fallout of this infraction could come later in the week for Truex, in the form of points penalties, a monetary fine and crew chief suspension.

Heading into Daytona, Truex is 14th in points, just 71 points below the Chase cutoff line. If hit with a 100-150 point penalty, based on precedence, Truex's bid to make the Chase will effectively end.

In other news from first practice, last week's race winner Kurt Busch, credited with turning the fastest lap in the session at 189.633, lost a tire and smacked the wall hard on nearly 40-lap tires near the end of the session. Busch (+2650) was sore after the incident and was forced to go to a back-up car.

Both Truex and Busch were further hampered by the fact that the second practice session, scheduled for later in the day on Thursday, was rained out. That meant both drivers would have to qualify in cars that hadn't seen a single lap on the track.

The above-mentioned drivers weren't the only ones affected by the practice rainout, however. Teams typically make their mock qualifying runs in the practice session closest to qualifying and, since that practice was cancelled, there was uncertainty across the board when qualifying began on Friday.

Perhaps that explains in part the unusual starting grid for Saturday's race - a mix of rookies and veterans, locked in drivers and go-or-go-homers - with two Dale Earnhardt, Inc. drivers on the front row.

DEI's Paul Menard will lead the field to green, capturing the pole with a 185.916 mile per hour lap. It is the first career pole and first top-10 starting spot this season for the driver of the No. 15 DEI car. Menard is currently ranked 26th in points.

Joining Menard on the front row will be DEI's Mark Martin (+1850) in the No. 8 car. Martin, who turned a 185.870 mile per hour lap, just announced plans to move to Hendrick Motorsports next season to run full time in the No. 5 car.

The top five cars in qualifying were all Chevys, including Menard, Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+550), Joe Nemecheck, and Johnny Sauter. Rounding out the top 10 are David Ragan (+1850), Boris Said, Regan Smith, Kyle Busch (+485), and Patrick Carpentier.

As this is an impound race (no adjustments made to cars between qualifying and race time) it's not unusual to see a number of drivers outside the top 35 make the starting field - in this case seven of them: Nemechek, Sauter, Said, and Carpentier, along with AJ Allmendinger, Sterling Marlin, and Jon Wood.

Scott Riggs and J.J. Yeley did not qualify.

A few notables starting deep in the field Saturday are Jimmie Johnson (+985) at 30th, Ryan Newman (+2150), 32nd, Greg Biffle (+4500), 33rd, Truex Jr., 35th, Kurt Busch, 36th, Elliott Sadler, 38th, last year's race winner Jamie McMurray (+4250), 40th, and Kasey Kahne (+2550), 41st.

Historically, 91.8% of all Cup races at Daytona have been won from a top-15 starting spot, and over half from a starting spot within the top 5, though in 1988, Bill Elliott won the Pepsi Firecracker 400 from 38th place.

Among the current betting favorites is Tony Stewart (+505), who ran 3rd in practice and starts 17th.

Jeff Gordon (+925) starts 26th and Denny Hamlin (+915), winner of Friday's Nationwide race, starts 15th.