"What a relief," offered Sterling Marlin, two-time Daytona 500 champion. "The three cars outside of the Top 35 with the fastest qualifying laps today were guaranteed a spot in the 500 and we were one of them. That's a huge relief for this team and a lot of weight taken off our shoulders. Slugger (crew chief Richard "Slugger" Labbe) and all the guys on the Waste Management team worked their tails off in the off season to bring a car back here that we could be confident would make the show and that's exactly what they did." While only the front row was set by today's time trials, the three cars outside of the Top 35 with the fastest qualifying laps today were guaranteed a spot in the 500. Thursday's Gatorade Duel races will place drivers in the remaining positions for the Daytona 500. Because the No. 14 team ended last season outside of the Top 35 in the Nextel Cup owner point standings, Marlin wasn't not guaranteed a spot in that race.
Marlin will start fifth in the second Duel race on Thursday. We would've had another shot to make the race on Thursday, but now that we're locked in we can focus on getting a top starting spot for the 500," said Marlin. "We've been fast since we unloaded and we were happy with the way our Waste Management Chevy drove in the pack during testing. I love this race track and I'm glad I can stop worrying about making the show and start focusing on winning it." Thursday's Duel races will be broadcast live on Speed beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
The top 35 drivers from 2006 are assured a spot in the 500, but their starting position will be determined by a pair of qualifying races Thursday. It leaves eight other spots to fill, and 26 drivers are vying for them. Dale Jarrett is guaranteed one of them by virtue of the past champions provisional, as are the three fastest drivers in qualifying from that group. That caveat promised Boris Said, Sterling Marlin and Johnny Sauter spots in the race.
In August 1991 at Michigan he recorded his first Cup victory but it wasn't until 1993 that Jarrett had the breakout season. In his second year driving for Joe Gibbs, Jarrett opened the season by winning the Daytona 500. He finished the year with 13 top-fives and 18 top-10s to finish fourth in points.
In 1995 Jarrett joined Robert Yates Racing and became one of the series' top drivers. In 1997 he won a personal-best seven races, and in 1999 put together one of the best seasons in NASCAR history. Jarrett won four times that year, but he finished in the top five in 24 of 34 races and 29 times finished in the top 10. He joined his father (twice) as a Cup champion and made the Jarretts just the second father-son combo to win Cup titles (Lee and Richard Petty).
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