DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — Newcomer David Gilliland of Riverside again stunned NASCAR's premier Nextel Cup series Sunday by winning the pole position for its premier race, the Daytona 500.
Gilliland, an obscure short-track driver in California only a year ago, ran a qualifying lap of 186.320 mph in his No. 38 Ford Fusion to secure the first spot on a cool, breezy day at the Daytona International Speedway.
He did so a day after finishing a close second to winner Tony Stewart in the Budweiser Shootout, a 70-lap sprint that opened a week of racing here that culminates with the 500.
It was the first time Gilliland, 30, had raced on Daytona's famed 2.5-mile, high-banked oval.
Starting next to Gilliland on the front row of the season-opening 500 will be Ricky Rudd, a 50-year-old veteran and Gilliland's teammate at the Robert Yates Racing team.
Rudd just returned to the sport after a one-year layoff to drive the No. 88 Ford and has been teaching Gilliland how to handle tracks such as Daytona.
"What are the odds of that?" Gilliland said of the Yates sweep. "It's unbelievable. Every time we've gone out, we've gotten faster and faster. We feel like we've got a race car good enough to win the 500."
Only the two front-row positions were set Sunday under the 500's complex qualifying format. The rest of the 43-car lineup will be determined by two 150-mile qualifying heats Thursday.
But not before another cheating scandal marred qualifying here.
NASCAR announced that Matt Kenseth's No. 17 Ford and Kasey Kahne's No. 9 Dodge failed inspection because of illegal holes in the cars' bodies aimed at improving their aerodynamics. And Michael Waltrip's No. 55 Toyota Camry was impounded because of a suspicious substance found in the engine manifold. Waltrip was allowed to qualify after replacing the manifold, but NASCAR still plans to inspect the car.
Kenseth and Kahne must start at the rear in Thursday's heats and other penalties are expected to be announced this week, said NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter. Asked if any crew chiefs might be suspended, he said he "wouldn't rule that out."
A year ago, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus was suspended for four races, including the 500, and fined $25,000 after officials found unapproved aerodynamic changes to Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Johnson won the Daytona 500 anyway.
