Jeff Gordon, making his 23rd and final Daytona 500 start next week, took the #24 AARP Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet to the pole position for the 57th running of the Great American Race. Gordon is a three-time winner of the race, having won from the pole in 1999. Gordon also started on the front row in 2011 and 2013. Next to Gordon on the front row will be his teammate Jimmie Johnson in the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, giving Hendrick Motorsports a sweep of the front row. Johnson won the pole in his 2002 rookie season and also in 2008, and started second in 2005. The other two Hendrick drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (#88) and Kasey Kahne (#5) also made the final five-minute, twelve-driver round of knockout qualifying, the first time that qualifying format has been used for Daytona 500 pole qualifying.
The qualifying session was interrupted in the first 25-minute round by a crash between the #15 Toyota of Clint Bowyer and the #44 Toyota of Reed Sorenson. Bowyer was quick to criticize NASCAR's decision to stick with the knockout qualifying format for the restrictor plate races at Daytona and Talladega and believed they were responsible for allowing the crash to happen and causing the #15 team to scramble to make backup plans for their Daytona 500. Tony Stewart got a piece of the first-round wreck and also derided the new qualifying format on Twitter.
The remaining 41 starting positions for the Daytona 500 will be determined on Thursday evening in the twin Budweiser Duel 150-mile qualifying races. Gordon will start first in the first Duel, while Johnson will start first in the second Duel. The remaining 47 drivers attempting to qualify for the 500 will be split between the two Duel races based on their positions during Sunday's qualifying session. Six drivers will not make the Daytona 500 field after Thursday's finishing orders are sorted out.
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