Elliott, Earnhardt Jr. To Share Front Row at Daytona 500

By ESPN

Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will share the front row for the 2017 Daytona 500.

They share something else that bonds them in Daytona 500 history. They both wrecked on their own in the race a year ago.

Sure, it can happen to the best of drivers. But with the eyes of the racing world -- and many outside the racing world -- focused on the biggest race of the season, losing the handle of the car creates a sour feeling. It might go away with time. But a driver gets only so many shots at the Daytona 500, and the emptiest of feelings includes wasting a fast car with a spin where a driver can look only in the mirror for blame.

Elliott will look back one day and know he sat on the pole for the Daytona 500. But likely for the moment, the 37th-place finish in 2016 sits as much in his mind as that pole.

"I hope we can just make it to the end of the race next week," Elliott said.

So forgive Elliott and Earnhardt if they tempered their excitement a little bit Sunday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway. They know they have fast Hendrick Motorsports cars. They just don't know if they are stable.

Earnhardt spun twice in restrictor-plate races last year. Elliott went 2-for-2 in the wrecking department at Daytona in his rookie season. Their teammate, Jimmie Johnson, wrecked twice Sunday afternoon in the exhibition Clash that preceded qualifying.

"You can have the best car, fastest car, but if it doesn't handle you are not going to do well in the race," Earnhardt said. "We have to get out there and learn what we need to learn in practice."

While Elliott finished seventh in the Clash, Earnhardt had a perfect view from the television broadcast booth to see Johnson lose it. That's seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Johnson.

"We're definitely aware of it and we're looking at our notes from over the years," Earnhardt said. "I thought we ran great in 2015, so we'll look at what we did then and what we're doing and sort of go through the process of elimination and that's kind of what we've been doing until we fix it."

Elliott crew chief Alan Gustafson says he thinks they have addressed the issue. That's why he entered Sunday afternoon not expecting to see his driver win the pole.

"We have things in place to try to improve that [what led to the spin last year], and we're very aware of it, and we brought this car specifically for that reason and expected to take some hit today," Gustafson said. "I'm really surprised we were able to run as well as we did today."

Running that well allowed Elliott to make some history. Only five drivers have won consecutive Daytona 500 poles.

He has the experience of one Daytona 500 pole -- as a rookie -- and Gustafson says he hopes the atmosphere doesn't get to Elliott this year.

"It probably was one of our toughest weeks [last year] because there is just a lot of tension and unknowns and that was maybe the only time all year I saw the pressure affect him," Gustafson said.

"I don't think he necessarily needs to put it out of his mind. He needs to learn from it, which he thinks he has, and it will have him better prepared to go on Sunday. ... You start this race, the Daytona 500, on the front row, it's crazy. Just chaos. There are thousands of people everywhere. You can barely get next to the car."

With all of the energy, all the pomp and circumstance, that could make having a stable car even more important. Emotions are wound up. Tensions are high. The last thing a driver needs is a car that doesn't act the way he expects.

The problem, though, is that the qualifying races Thursday are run at night, and few drivers practice during the two days leading into the Daytona 500, which gets run in the middle of the afternoon.

"Nobody practices and it's really frustrating for me because I think it's really important to practice in the sun and the heat," Gustafson said. "So last year, I don't think we had the car very good for Chase to start the Daytona 500 due to lack of practice and just kind of lack of experience with him and what he was going to need in the car."

Good crew chiefs take some of the blame for their drivers, and Gustafson did just that. But Elliott says he knows the onus was on him to perform.

"I definitely made a mistake last year and got in a wreck in the July race, too," Elliott said. "[I'm] 2-for-2 on tearing up a lot of stuff in 2016 down here, so I hope that's not the case. ... I certainly learned things from it, and it motivates me to not want to do that, for sure.

"But hey, you've got to take it as it comes, and we'll see what happens this time."

Beyond the Hendrick teammates, there were two other drivers who left the track happy Sunday. Elliott Sadler and Brendan Gaughan locked themselves into the Daytona 500 thanks to being the two fastest among the six drivers who don't have guaranteed starting positions.

Both had ECR Engines power under the hood.

The top "open" driver in each of the qualifying races Thursday advances to the Daytona 500 with the final two spots on speed. Reed Sorenson and D.J. Kennington are on the bubble -- possibly advancing if Sadler or Gaughan are the top drivers in their respective qualifying races. Corey LaJoie and Timmy Hill must race their way in Thursday.

"Handling we saw today was a big factor," Sadler said. "If we get our car driving good, the way the Daytona 500 works, you just never know until the end. If you can stay around, stay on the lead lap, anything can happen and we have nothing to lose."

Sadler and Gaughan will play it conservative in the qualifying race Thursday. Earnhardt and Elliott don't have that luxury as full-time Cup drivers. The duels will be worth regular-season points to the top 10 in each duel.

In some ways, that should be a relief to Earnhardt and Elliott. They don't have a reason to take it easy and save their cars for the Daytona 500. They have a reason to work the draft and finish in the top-10 -- beyond just trying to learn, trying to avoid the disaster of the 2016 race.

"We want to see how our cars are going to handle," Earnhardt said. "I don't know if you learn much at night, but we'll try to learn as much as we can. We're going to try to practice as much as we can. Will there be enough cars out there to learn anything? We don't know."

It was obvious Earnhardt is eager to atone for last year's restrictor-plate follies.

So while it would make sense that Earnhardt should have felt ecstatic that he will start his first race since July on the front row, he didn't seem all that happy. The fans are thrilled that he has recovered from his concussions, but Earnhardt, the racer, wanted more.

"I'm not satisfied," Earnhardt said. "I'd like to get the pole."

So much for just being happy to be there.