DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Just a few short weeks ago, I reported that Roush Yates engines dominated at the Rolex 24 Hour. Well, they are dominating again at the beach! Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle have qualified on the front row for the Daytona 500 making the folks at Roush Fenway Racing and Roush Yates Engines quite happy. Carl Edwards must also feel a sense of revenge after having Tony Stewart edge him out of the Championship last year on a tie-breaker. The RFR drivers have the only two spots set at this point in the Daytona line-up. The rest of the field will be determined by the Duel 150 qualifying races on Thursday. Edwards’ best lap averaged 194.738 mph while Biffle ran a 194.087 mph lap around the 2.5-mile oval. "This is a very, very speedy Fastenal [Ford] Fusion, and I appreciate [crew chief] Bob Osborne and all the work he's done," Edwards said. "[Engine builder] Doug Yates -- the engines are so important in this.” Burns Stainless is please to provide exhaust components to the Roush-Yates teams.
Danica Patrick makes her debut in the Daytona 500 with a guaranteed spot on the grid. Patrick will be the third woman to start this historic race. With a 191.738 mph lap, she was only able to qualify 30th due to an over-heating problem during her second qualifying lap. Danica felt quite happy with her performance, "It felt fine," she said. "It got a little hot on the water at the end, but other than that -- some water blowing out of the car -- but everybody did a good job. Everybody worked really, really hard on the cars.”
Sunday’s Budweiser Shootout ended poorly for Jeff Gordon who with only two laps to go made contact with Shootout winner Kyle Busch resulting in an eight-car crash (SEE VIDEO) that took him and other out of contention. After Gordon made contact with the 18 car, he hit the outside wall hard, slid onto the apron on his side then flipped three times. Gordon miraculously escaped with minor injuries including a stiff-neck, banged shin, and a cut on his finger. Gordon said that the wreck was due to an aggressive move on his part trying to push Busch too hard. "This is one of the things you're going to see a lot more from me this year. We're going to be aggressive," said Gordon, who won three times in 2011. "I've got an awesome race team, and a car capable of winning races, and I felt like we should have won more races last year than we did. I don't want to let those opportunities slip away, and I feel like we're going to try to make some opportunities as well."
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