Martin Truex Jr. Lands Daytona 500 Pole

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After what could possibly be described as the most boring day in all of NASCAR -- well, save for the middle laps at Pocono -- a pair of Martins had the hot hand during Sunday's qualifying for next Sunday's Daytona 500.

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Martin Truex Jr. will lead the Sprint Cup season-opener when the green flag waves, while the revitalized Mark Martin from the Hendrick Motorsports stable will start alongside. Truex's pole-winning speed of 188.001 mph just bested Martin's lap of 187.817 mph to earn the New Jersey driver just his second career pole.

Fifty four other cars took timed laps during the three-hour session under a balmy and sunny Florida sky, but thanks to NASCAR's Daytona qualifying procedure, only the top two know where they'll start next weekend's race.

Those spots will be sorted out after Thursday afternoon's qualifying races at the track -- the two Gatorade Duel 150-mile races -- that will be filled in a matter that even words like "convoluted" or "perplexing" can't properly explain. Regardless, the process (check out David Poole's explanation if you're so inclined) will result in a starting field for the Daytona 500 based mostly on the finishing order of each qualifying race.

But as for Truex, winning the pole has to be darn good dose of medicine after the turbulent offseason his team has faced. First, his original employer, Dale Earnhardt Inc., merged with Chip Ganassi Racing in November. The move created a four-car team lacking enough sponsorship for the whole operation and created a few rumors that Truex might take his current sponsor Bass Pro Shops to a new team.

Those rumors never materialized.

Truex also returned to the track where just months ago during DIS' July Sprint Cup race, he saw his hopes to earn a spot in the Chase for the Championship extinguished thanks to a car inspection problem that lost the team points and the use of crew chief Kevin Manion for six weeks.

The Chevrolets of Truex and Martin weren't the only bowties to find their way to the front during Sunday's time trials. Eight of the top 10 qualifers -- save for the Fords of Bill Elliott (5th) and Travis Kvapil (8th) -- carried the Chevrolet colors.

Saturday night's winner of the Budweiser Shootout, Kevin Harvick, didn't keep the pace during the Saturday qualifying activities and wound up 47th on the speed charts.