Jeff Gordon Wins Pole for 2015 Daytona 500
By Rob Perez
Jeff Gordon is your 2015 Daytona 500 Pole Winner, after a WILD qualifying run in which we saw a wicked crash between Clint Bowyer and Reed Sorenson.
Boywer went absolutely off on Nascar for the new Daytona 500 qualifying format they rolled out this year, exclaiming: “But it ain’t his [Reed’s] fault. It’s not. It’s NASCAR’s fault for putting us out here in the middle of this crap for nothing. We used to come down here and worry about who’s going to sit on the front row and the pole for the biggest race of the year. Now all we do is come down here and worry about how a start and park like this out of desperation is going to knock us out of the Daytona 500. We’ve been in meetings for 45 minutes just trying to figure out what in the hell everybody’s is going to do just so we could make the race. It’s stupid. There’s no sense in doing this.”
If you’re wondering what’s got Boywer so P’d, here’s what happened…
In re: to the “new format”, this is the first time NASCAR has tried the “knockout qualifying format” for the Daytona 500 (a restrictor plate track where cars’ maximum speeds are regulated). Instead of competitors running one-by-one, and the two fastest cars earning the front row starting spots … drivers are bunched into groups. Since everyone’s speeds are almost identical, side-drafting ensues, and thus: so do accidents.
Gordon will be joined by his Hendricks teammate, Jimmie Johnson, in the front row — with Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, and Kyle Busch right behind ’em.
LET’S GO RACIN’