NFL Tickets
The NASCAR season opening Daytona 500 is Sunday February 26th. Unlike all other sports, the first race of the NASCAR season is the biggest race of the season. The money paid for wining this race is bigger than any other race. The Prestige of winning this race is bigger than any other race. There should be no surprise that qualifying for the Daytona 500 is different than any other race of the season. Qualifying for the Daytona 500 consists of two parts. The first is typical single car speed runs this Sunday. The second is two individual qualifying races which will happen the following Thursday.
On Sunday qualifying typically does not have as much drama as Bump Day for the Indianapolis 500 used to, but there will be some drama none the less. On Sunday the Pole position will be determined and the outside Pole position will be determined. Positions 3-39 are determined by the finishing order of the Dual races on Thursday. Positions 40 through 43 are determined by the qualifying speeds on Sunday. If there happens to be a previous Sprint Cup Champion who has not made the race any other way then position 43 goes to the most recent champion that hasn’t already qualified for the race. It sounds pretty simple but put in the NASCAR top 35 rule and it gets a little tougher.
The Top 35 rule is simply the Top 35 cars based on the year before owner’s points automatically qualify for the race. If you watch qualifying this will be discussed and strategized at length. To simplify it there are 43 spots in the race. 35 cars automatically get in so there are 8 spots available for cars to qualify for the race. If you are not in the top 35 you better be one of the fastest of the non-top 35 cars. That is the only way you will know you will make the race no matter what happens on Thursday.
There are 49 cars entered for the 43 spots in the race. All 49 cars will race on Thursday, half in one race then the other in the other race based on their qualifying speeds on Sunday. The even positions in the first race than odds positions in the second. On Sunday if you are one of the three fastest cars who are not in the top 35 then you will make the race no matter what happens on Thursday. If you happen to be the fourth fastest then that is good too if all past champions qualify for the race. If your car is not one of those four and not in the top 35 then you must race into the race on Thursday. There are 14 cars trying to be in these eight positions.
The bottom line is, Sunday is all about the bottom teams of NASCAR. It is all about those teams who are outside of the top 35. It is all about the hopes and dreams for those teams. It is all about those 14 teams that are on the outside looking in. That is the drama that will unfold on Sunday.
With all the talk about buying and selling owners points last year’s Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne and the Wood Brothers #21 car did not benefit from that. Love to hate him, Robby Gordon must race in. Fan favorites Kenny Wallace, Michael Waltrip and Dave Blaney must race in. The other drama that will enfold is the two past champions, Terry Labonte and Bill Elliott who are trying to make the 500 on speed. If they do it opens another position up. Then there are the other drivers Tony Raines, David Stremme, Mike Wallace, J.J. Yelley, Joe Nemechek and Michael McDowell. After Sunday is over we will know if three and perhaps four of these drivers will be in the Daytona 500 no matter what.
The only thing certain after qualifying Sunday is who we will have to watch Thursday that must race as hard as possible in order to get into the biggest race of the season. That is what makes the Thursday races worth taking off work to watch.
Follow me on Twitter during qualifying and on Thursday @brian_jr1.
Share 
