How come this is?

May be...

Because it happened.

quailifying by yourself on the track and drafting with a pack are 2 different things the hendricks teams will be up front when it counts like last night the #24 and #48 lost the lead pack during the first 20 laps and they were there at the end

Cars react differently in traffic as opposed to on the racetrack alone for qualifying. Seeing as they have to use the same car and same engine for the race, the car is tuned more for race conditions. Drivers who have to qualify in or go home are more likely to set up the car for a qualifying run.

Go back to NHRA, lol.

It's called sandbagging.

they are locked in it doesn't matter to them where they qualify so they only focused on race trim not their qualifying set up.

Sandbagging. You don't show eveything you got. You save it for the race (the last lap) You also have to take it easy on the engines because they have to last 500 miles.

1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 187.075 48.109 Leader

2 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 186.734 48.197 -0.088

3 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing 186.498 48.258 -0.149

4 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 186.463 48.267 -0.158

5 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 186.120 48.356 -0.247

6 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Kellogg's / CARQUEST 186.054 48.373 -0.264

7 28 Travis Kvapil Ford K&N Filters 185.958 48.398 -0.289

8 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Express 185.947 48.401 -0.292

9 160 Boris Said Ford 7-Eleven Slurpee / No Fear 185.893 48.415 -0.306

10 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 185.858 48.424 -0.315

11 10 Patrick Carpentier Dodge Valvoline 185.766 48.448 -0.339

12 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 185.651 48.478 -0.369

13 6 David Ragan Ford AAA 185.594 48.493 -0.384

14 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 185.517 48.513 -0.404

15 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet AMP Energy / National Guard 185.479 48.523 -0.414

16 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 185.475 48.524 -0.415

17 27 Jacques Villeneuve Toyota Bill Davis Racing 185.452 48.530 -0.421

18 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 185.429 48.536 -0.427

19 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull 185.422 48.538 -0.429

20 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditRep

ort.com 185.410 48.541 -0.432

21 44 Dale Jarrett Toyota UPS 185.345 48.558 -0.449

22 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet State Water Heaters 185.193 48.598 -0.489

23 12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 185.143 48.611 -0.502

24 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 185.071 48.630 -0.521

25 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal Cask No. 16 185.010 48.646 -0.537

26 01 Regan Smith Chevrolet Principal Financial Group 184.964 48.658 -0.549

27 187 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Furniture Row

/ DenverMattress.com 184.953 48.661 -0.552

28 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Jim Beam 184.850 48.688 -0.579

29 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 184.828 48.694 -0.585

30 137 Eric McClure Chevrolet Hefty 184.828 48.694 -0.585

31 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M's 184.809 48.699 -0.590

32 70 Jeremy Mayfield Chevrolet Junior Johnson's Midnight Moon 184.612 48.751 -0.642

33 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 184.589 48.757 -0.648

34 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 184.540 48.770 -0.661

35 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Best Buy 184.521 48.775 -0.666

36 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 184.487 48.784 -0.675

37 49 Ken Schrader Dodge HealthLife.com 184.483 48.785 -0.676

38 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet PEAK / Menards 184.415 48.803 -0.694

39 40 Dario Franchitti Dodge Dodge Journey 184.351 48.820 -0.711

40 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 184.290 48.836 -0.727

41 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 184.264 48.843 -0.734

42 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 184.241 48.849 -0.740

43 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 184.226 48.853 -0.744

44 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 184.106 48.885 -0.776

45 21 Bill Elliott Ford Little Debbie 184.090 48.889 -0.780

46 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 183.884 48.944 -0.835

47 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 183.857 48.951 -0.842

48 34 John Andretti Chevrolet Makoto 183.673 49.000 -0.891

49 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Wells Fargo 183.374 49.080 -0.971

50 109 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet Miccosukee Resort & Gaming 183.326 49.093 -0.984

51 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV 182.994 49.182 -1.073

52 150 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet NOS Energy Drink / SKI / SBM 182.823 49.228 -1.119

53 08 Carl Long Dodge MILLSTAR Tools / Rhino's Energy Drink 180.796 49.780 -1.671

they picked random qualifying spots from a bottle

Qualifying isn't winning. Wait til after the 500 to gloat. Didn't you see Junior flying last nighr? wait til race time. How many times did Sr get written off for starting at the back, only to come out of nowhere to win?? This apple didn't fall far from the tree!!!

Qualifying not done yet and Villeneuve is behind Jr. Plus Newman still has to qualify.

hot shot earhardt jr only qualified 9th and jeff gordon not much better how come they aint 1 & 2 GO VILLENEUVE

Doesnt Matter in a Restrictor Plate Race Just like the Shootout Jr. won and Gordon started 22nd and led laps and came in 4th!!!!!

It is because other drivers are faster than them. In NASCAR, you have one chance to show your fastest speed for the pole. If you don't, forget it though those drivers will be in the race no matter what due to the Top 35 rule which states that the top 35 drivers in owners points from last season get the automatic spot for the 500.



Regardless, in Daytona 500 qualifying, only the front row is qualified for the race. For the most part, they are the polesitters for the Twin-150 races on Thursday. Those races will transfer the top 14 plus the race polesitter into the 500. If any driver must qualify on time, the top two of the "Go or go Home" drivers in that race regardless of overall position, will automatically qualify. There are four of these positions total, but as far as Jeff Gordon and Dale Jr. are concerned, both of them could start up toward the front anyway because the winner of each race gets a spot in the second row. As for the final four spots, among the "Go or go Home" crowd, they revert to the qualifying times if they aren't fast enough in the races.