Dale Earnhardt Jr. Wins Daytona 500 Pole

NASCAR is back for another year – and so is Juniormania! Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole position for the Daytona 500 yesterday with a lap of 186.089 mph in qualifying. It’s a boost for Earnhardt, who is coming off a couple of bad seasons and spent part of last week facing questions about the 10-year anniversary of his father’s death at the track. Jeff Gordon qualified second. Bill Elliott, Travis Kvapil and Joe Nemechek also clinched spots in the field, and Terry Labonte is guaranteed a starting spot. The rest of the field will be set after a pair of qualifying races Thursday.