It was Daytona 500 Qualifying day and Budweiser Shootout day rolled into one at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday.

 

Qualifying came first at its originally scheduled time of 12:10 p.m.  It was followed by the Bud Shootout which had to be postponed from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon after rain washed out Saturday’s events.

 

Ken Schrader rolled out onto the 2.5 mile speedway next to last for his qualifying run Sunday afternoon.  His 48.376 second trip around the track placed his Little Debbie Ford Fusion 32nd on the original results sheet.  However, following an announcement by NASCAR, he moved up to 30th due to the disqualification of Jimmie Johnson and Terry Labonte’s qualifying attempts.  Both Johnson and Labonte’s cars were found to have illegal parts during post-qualifying inspection.

 

When Ken got out of the car he said, “We didn’t know what to expect.  We changed the rear-end and everything this morning, so we did not know what would happen.  The general consensus was we would have been happy with a .50, so we were happier with a .37.”

 

A change in the NASCAR rules regarding the Gatorade Duel 150’s on Thursday puts Schrader’s Little Debbie Fusion in the first event of the afternoon, but a new starting line-up had not been released at the time this is being written.

 

Jeff Burton earned the pole with a lap of 47.581 seconds, and Jeff Gordon will start the 500 along side Burton on the outside front row.

 

Immediately following his qualifying effort, Ken switched gears, changing driver suits and cars for the Bud Shootout.  By virtue of a qualifying draw held Thursday night at the Speedway, he started on the pole for the event in the U.S. Air Force car.

 

When the green flag waved Schrader jumped into the lead and held on to it all but two of the first 20 laps prior to a scheduled 10-minute break in the action.  During the following 50 circuits that included a mandatory green-flag pit stop, he became a victim of circumstance when problems in the pits and a lack of clean air resulted in a loss of position and a 14th place finish.

 

He later described his race saying, “The first 20 (laps) went good, but it’s just hard to stay in the front when you’re not one of the fastest cars and we weren’t.  We knew that, but we kept trying to steal something.  When we lined up for the second 50 the outside lane took off quick and then everybody jumped up in there.  We were in trouble at that point and then we had an issue getting in on the one pit stop.  When the yellow came out I thought that maybe we could steal something because we did two tires.  We started back eighth, which was the right call; it just needed to be one lap so we were kind of a sitting duck.  But we were 16th and you don’t just throw those eight starting spots away for two laps, so it was the right call.  We just wound up 14th, but we were fifth or sixth somewhere in those last two laps but they’re gonna pay us for 14th.  We’ve had a lot worse starts to the year.”

 

Rookie Denny Hamlin won the event followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Stewart in second and third.  Twenty-one former pole and event winners made up the field for the annual event.

 

Wood Brothers Racing guest USAF Lt. Gen. Dennis R. Larsen, Vice Commander, Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, served as Grand Marshal and gave the starting command for the race. 

 

The Dual 150’s (60 laps – 150 miles) are scheduled to begin on Thursday, February 16, at 2:10 p.m.  Both events will be televised live on TNT and broadcast over the Motor Racing network of radio affiliates.