Parks Pit Report: Daytona Speedweeks-Part 2, The Starting Line-Up

Before I get into showing the starting line-up for Sunday’s race, much like every year the Gatorade Duel races sets the rest of the field for the biggest race of the season.  This year, the two races provided a big indication of what could be expected come Sunday afternoon.

First, let’s look at the winner of the first Gatorade Duel, Tony Stewart.  He’s coming off a Chase performance that without question was the single greatest 10-race span in the Chase era.  Not even I, who has been following the sport for nearly 20 years, has witnessed a more dominating performance from one driver than what I saw of Stewart in last year’s Chase.

Already this year he’s starting off the season right; as he was the winner in the first Gatorade Duel, giving him the third starting position.  This is also his first win with new crew chief Steve Addington, who came over after spending the last two years with Penske Racing.  Not exactly a bad way to start the season, even though it is just a qualifying race.

The second Gatorade Duel was won by Matt Kenseth, who is a former Daytona 500 champion.  However, the story that I’m going with on his win is more the car manufacturer.

Since they unloaded last year for the superspeedway events, the Ford drivers have been bad fast.  In fact, Ford won both Daytona races last season, with Chevrolet picking up the wins at Talladega.  Once again this year, Ford is at the forefront of the Daytona field, and it’s led by the trio of Roush-Fenway Racing drivers.

This past Sunday, Carl Edwards took his first pole of the 2012 season, after finishing runner-up to Stewart for the title last year.  Teammate Greg Biffle starts outside pole one year after missing the Chase.  Now, with Kenseth starting third, the Ford teams nearly swept the first two rows.

On Sunday, all eyes will descend upon the Daytona International Speedway to kick off the brand new season of NASCAR.  There are too many storylines to even fathom before the green flag waves.  The only way to find out if any of them become a reality will be to watch FOX beginning at 1 p.m. ET for the beginning of the 54th Annual Daytona 500.

STARTING LINE-UP, Daytona 500
(ROW:  Inside, Sponsor and Manufacturer; Outside, Sponsor and Manufacturer)

ROW 1:  Carl Edwards, No. 99 Fastenal Ford (46.216 Secs, 194.738 MPH); Greg Biffle, No. 16 3M Ford (46.371 Secs, 194.087 MPH)

ROW 2:  Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet; Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Best Buy Ford

ROW 3:  Dale Earnhardt Jr, No. 88 Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet; Regan Smith, No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet

ROW 4:  Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 Stanley Tools Ford; Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet

ROW 5:  Jeff Burton, No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet; Elliott Sadler, No. 33 General Mills/Kroger Chevrolet

ROW 6:  Michael McDowell, No. 98 K-Love/Curb Records Ford; Joey Logano, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota

ROW 7:  Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet; Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota

ROW 8:  A.J. Allmendinger, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge; Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet

ROW 9:  Robby Gordon, No. 7 Mapei/Menards/Speed Energy Dodge; Ryan Newman, No. 39 U.S. Army/Quicken Loans Chevrolet

ROW 10:  Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet; Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet

ROW 11:  Ricky Stenhouse, No. 6 Ford EcoBoost Ford; Mark Martin, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota

ROW 12:  Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge; Dave Blaney, No. 36 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Chevrolet

ROW 13:  David Ragan, No. 34 Scorpion Truck Bed Liners Ford; Martin Truex Jr, NAPA Auto Parts Toyota

ROW 14:  Aric Almirola, No. 43 Smithfield “Helping Hungry Homes” Ford; Kurt Busch, No. 51 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet

ROW 15:  Danica Patrick, No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet; Clint Bowyer, No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota

ROW 16:  Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota; Bobby Labonte, No. 47 Kroger Toyota

ROW 17:  David Gilliland, No. 38 MHP Power Pak Pudding Ford; Joe Nemechek, AMFMEnergy.com/Pellet & Wood Stoves Toyota

ROW 18:  Juan Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet; Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Toyota

ROW 19:  Paul Menard, No. 27 Peak/Menards Chevrolet; David Reutimann, No. 93 Burger King Toyota

ROW 20:  Landon Cassill, No. 83 Burger King Toyota; Trevor Bayne, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford

ROW 21:  Tony Raines, No. 26 Front Row Motorsports Ford; David Stremme, No. 30 Inception Motorsports Toyota

ROW 22:  Terry Labonte, No. 32 C&J Energy Ford (Champion’s Provisional)