[steveegg]

Qualifying setup for the Daytona 500 -

The Sunday qualifying runs will set up the following:

• The front row for the Daytona 500 (fastest 2)
• The order for each Gatorade Duel but not necessarily who is in each Duel -
  • The fastest qualifier will start the first Gatorade Duel on the pole regardless of whether he would otherwise have started in the second Duel, and the 2nd-fastest qualifier will start the second Gatorade Duel on the pole regardless of whether he would otherwise have started in the first Duel.
  • The teams that finished in the "odd" positions of the top 35 in 2005 owners' points (20/99/48/17/2/24/38/88/25/8/21/9/1/07/66/49/11/14) will compete in the first Duel.
  • The teams that finished in the "even" positions of the top 35 in 2005 owners' points (16/6/12/26/19/42/29/01/31/5/41/18/40/45/43/22/55) will compete in the second Duel.
  • The "field-fillers" will alternate Duels in the order of speed, starting with the second Duel (unless a "field-filler" is the fastest-qualifier, in which case he starts the alternating pattern with the first Duel).
• The "top 35" and the fastest 4 field-fillers in qualifying will be guaranteed to start the Daytona 500 as long as they compete in their respective Duels.

The Gatorade Duels on Thursday will set most of the lineup for the Daytona 500 as follows:

• Except for the pole-sitter in the first Duel (who will start on the inside pole for the Daytona 500), the finishing order of the "top 35" plus the top-finishing 2 "field-fillers" will fill the "inside" row in order (starting with the 3rd position), wrapping around to the outside row if there are at least 2 more "qualifiers" in the first Duel than the second.
• Except for the pole-sitter in the second Duel (who will start on the outside pole for the Daytona 500), the finishing order of the "top 35" plus the top-finishing 2 "field-fillers" will fill the outside row in order (starting with the 4th position), wrapping around to the inside row if there are more "qualifiers" in the second Duel than the first.
• The remaining spots through 42nd (1, 2, or 3 spots depending on whether 2, 1, or 0 "field-fillers" were among the fastest 2 qualifiers respectively) will be filled by the fastest-qualifying "field-fillers" not already in the Daytona 500.
• The 43rd spot will be filled by either the most-recent Winston/Nextel Cup champ not already in the Daytona 500 or the next-fastest-qualifying "field-filler".
• The remainder of the "field-fillers" will load up after the Gatorade Duels and get a head start on going back to the shop.

[steveegg]

Check that "field-filler" alternating item. The alternating starts with the first Gatorade Duel (unless the fastest "field-filler" is 2nd-quick in qualifying, in which case the alternating starts with him in the second Duel).

[WestCoastGal]

Thank you Steve for posting - great info and the entries.