Truex Jr claims Daytona 500 pole

Truex set a fastest lap of 47.872 seconds (188.001mph) and despite not being as quick as veteran Martin on his first lap he was able to pick up enough speed on his second to win his second ever Sprint Cup series pole.

The 28-year-old also gave Earnhardt Ganassi Racing their maiden pole position, following a tough off-season in which both Chip Ganassi Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc were forced to lay-off more than a hundred people each since announcing they were merging under a new name last November.

"Well, it's been a tough winter," Truex said. "Everybody's read about what's going on with the team and there was a lot of uncertainty throughout most part of the winter but I'm proud of my guys for sticking with it and not letting anything get them down.

"It's not really important to qualify up front here, but we've never really had a shot at the pole before and it's nice to come here and see that we had it. It's a great way to start off the week here at Daytona."

Martin came close to starting from pole at the start of what is expected to be his last full-season in the Sprint Cup series. The 50-year-old topped the timesheets for most of the session and will enjoy his best ever starting spot for the season-opener.

"I can't wait to get this car out there in the draft," said an excited Martin. "It's so fast. Everybody on this race team is so charged up. It's just so fun to go to work every day and I'm glad it's just about ready to start."

Behind the front row pair, the rest of the starting positions will be set by the results of next Thursday's Gatorade Duels.

Stewart-Haas Racing continued to impress after a promising showing for Tony Stewart in the Budweiser Shootout where he finished third. Defending Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman put on a strong qualifying run in third place, and has a guaranteed starting spot for next week's race.

"We came off the truck fast," Newman said. "It was a good effort for everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. To have a new organisation and a new group of guys do this makes us proud. This is a good effort for sure. We are among some great company."

Juan Pablo Montoya (Earnhardt Ganassi) equalled his best qualifying effort at Daytona but was disappointed to miss out on pole. He was second fastest at the time he set his run but ended up fourth as Newman and Truex set faster laps than his.

"To be honest, I'm actually disappointed that we didn't run faster," Montoya said. "We honestly thought we had a car to easily be on pole. The wind just picked up and it didn't help. But you know, it is what it is."

"It's a lot better than where we were last year, but we should've run better. All our cars have been running very quick in practice, but we should've picked up more speed on that run."

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's good performance was underlined by Aric Almirola's seventh place. Hendrick Motorsports were the only team who got close to such strong qualifying with all their cars placed in the top 15. Defending champion Jimmie Johnson was sixth while Jeff Gordon was ninth and Dale Earnhardt Jr 12th.

Wood Brothers' Bill Elliott, who had set the pace in practice for qualifying, was unable to match his speed from Saturday but still ran fast enough to secure a spot in the field after missing last year's race. The 53-year-old took fifth and was the fastest of those not guaranteed a starting spot through the top-35 in the car owner standing.

"I think it says it on the board," said Elliot. "We're the fastest of the Fords and that was a very impressive run as far as we're concerned. It's kind of a double-edged sword being that we didn't get the pole, but there again, we're out of the top 35 in points and we needed a good, solid run, so that's kind of where we need to be."

Kyle Busch was the fastest Toyota in 15th, two spots ahead of Red Bull's Scott Speed, who was quicker than his rookie rival Joey Logano. Meanwhile the Dodges ended up far down in the order, the fastest being Richard Petty's Reed Sorenson in 28th place.

The other two drivers securing a spot based on their qualifying speed were Yates Racing's Travis Kvapil, who was eighth fastest, and Tony Stewart who was tenth. As Stewart won't rely now on his most recent champion status anymore, that allows former champion Terry Labonte to lock himself in the field as well.

Last year's Rookie of the Year Regan Smith, who was 14th quickest, was the fourth quickest among the non-guranteed drivers.

Another four drivers will get the chance to get in the field through the Gatorade Duels next Thursday, while the most recent past champion not already qualified will get the last available spot on the grid.

74-year-old James Hylton finally withdrew and didn't attempt qualifying after his car was plagued by mechanical issues during Saturday's practice.

Pos  Driver             Car        Speed    Time
 1.  Martin Truex Jr    Chevrolet  188.001  47.872
 2.  Mark Martin        Chevrolet  187.817  47.919  + 0.047
 3.  Ryan Newman        Chevrolet  187.778  47.929  + 0.057
 4.  Juan Montoya       Chevrolet  187.742  47.938  + 0.066
 5.  Bill Elliott       Ford       187.739  47.939  + 0.067
 6.  Jimmie Johnson     Chevrolet  187.727  47.942  + 0.070
 7.  Aric Almirola      Chevrolet  187.649  47.962  + 0.090
 8.  Travis Kvapil      Ford       187.574  47.981  + 0.109
 9.  Jeff Gordon        Chevrolet  187.402  48.025  + 0.153
10.  Tony Stewart       Chevrolet  187.336  48.042  + 0.170
11.  Bobby Labonte      Ford       187.211  48.074  + 0.202
12.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet  187.079  48.108  + 0.236
13.  Paul Menard        Ford       187.044  48.117  + 0.245
14.  Regan Smith        Chevrolet  186.924  48.148  + 0.276
15.  Kyle Busch         Toyota     186.896  48.155  + 0.283
16.  Greg Biffle        Ford       186.889  48.157  + 0.285
17.  Scott Speed        Toyota     186.842  48.169  + 0.297
18.  David Reutimann    Toyota     186.827  48.173  + 0.301
19.  Joe Nemechek       Toyota     186.807  48.178  + 0.306
20.  Boris Said         Ford       186.780  48.185  + 0.313
21.  Joey Logano        Toyota     186.753  48.192  + 0.320
22.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet  186.726  48.199  + 0.327
23.  Matt Kenseth       Ford       186.614  48.228  + 0.356
24.  Jamie McMurray     Ford       186.509  48.255  + 0.383
25.  Denny Hamlin       Toyota     186.451  48.270  + 0.398
26.  Carl Edwards       Ford       186.389  48.286  + 0.414
27.  David Ragan        Ford       186.374  48.290  + 0.418
28.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge      186.070  48.369  + 0.497
29.  Elliott Sadler     Dodge      186.066  48.370  + 0.498
30.  Marcos Ambrose     Toyota     186.012  48.384  + 0.512
31.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet  185.958  48.398  + 0.526
32.  Scott Riggs        Toyota     185.893  48.415  + 0.543
33.  Brian Vickers      Toyota     185.858  48.424  + 0.552
34.  Michael Waltrip    Toyota     185.805  48.438  + 0.566
35.  AJ Allmendinger    Dodge      185.770  48.447  + 0.575
36.  John Andretti      Chevrolet  185.590  48.494  + 0.622
37.  Brad Keselowski    Chevrolet  185.571  48.499  + 0.627
38.  Kasey Kahne        Dodge      185.517  48.513  + 0.641
39.  Robby Gordon       Toyota     185.510  48.515  + 0.643
40.  Casey Mears        Chevrolet  185.426  48.537  + 0.665
41.  David Stremme      Dodge      185.391  48.546  + 0.674
42.  Kurt Busch         Dodge      185.380  48.549  + 0.677
43.  Jeremy Mayfield    Toyota     185.082  48.627  + 0.755
44.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dodge      185.079  48.628  + 0.756
45.  Kirk Shelmerdine   Toyota     184.854  48.687  + 0.815
46.  Mike Wallace       Chevrolet  184.847  48.689  + 0.817
47.  Tony Raines        Dodge      184.106  48.885  + 1.013
48.  Mike Garvey        Dodge      184.004  48.912  + 1.040
49.  Kevin Harvick      Chevrolet  183.602  49.019  + 1.147
50.  Terry Labonte      Toyota     182.042  49.439  + 1.567
51.  Derrike Cope       Dodge      182.020  49.445  + 1.573
52.  Mike Skinner       Chevrolet  181.928  49.470  + 1.598
53.  Kelly Bires        Dodge      181.701  49.532  + 1.660
54.  Carl Long          Dodge      181.032  49.715  + 1.843
55.  Geoff Bodine       Toyota     180.810  49.776  + 1.904
56.  Norm Benning       Chevrolet  177.396  50.734  + 2.862