Daytona 500 starting grid set

Although the initial grid had been lined up after the two Gatorade Duel qualifying races on Thursday, some drivers have been forced to switch cars following practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, some others due to incidents in the duels.

The first row remains unchanged since last Sunday, as both pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr and Mark Martin secured their positions by being the two fastest qualifiers out of the 57 cars entered for the event.

The second row of the grid belongs to the winners of the two Gatorade Duels from Thursday, with Jeff Gordon taking third place by winning the first and Kyle Busch in fourth by winning the second 150-mile qualifying race.

Behind them Tony Stewart was set to start his first points-paying race as driver and team owner from fifth place on the grid up until his practice crash, so he will move to the back of the grid in the parade laps and his line will all move up one row, promoting Jimmie Johnson from seventh to fifth by the time the green flag waves.

Brian Vickers will start fourth after he finished third behind Mark Martin - already locked on the front row - in the second duel.

The finishing order of the first duel basically mirrors the inside line of the grid, while the same applies to the outside line, including only those drivers in the top-35 in last year's owner standings and those who got in field through the duels or by qualifying speed.

Out of the first duel, Tony Stewart - his car not in last year's top-35 - and Scott Riggs got in the field. One row behind him on the grid will be Jeremy Mayfield, who earned the first available spot from the second duel, the other one being taken by AJ Allmendinger.

The last four spots on the grid were allocated to the fastest non-guaranteed qualifiers from Sunday, not already in the field via the duels and the most recent past champion not already qualified.

That allows Bill Elliot - the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in qualifying - Yates Racing's Travis Kvapil and last year's rookie of the year Regan Smith to make the field, while Terry Labonte takes the last available spot thanks to his past champion status.

They will all move up a few spots as besides Stewart, at least another four drivers drop to the back of field during the parade laps. His teammate and defending Daytona 300 champion Ryan Newman, who will drive Stewart's Budweiser Shootout car after their practice shunt, also moves to the back.

2007 Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick, who also switched to his back up for the race following contact with the wall in Friday's practice, will drop a few spots from his initial starting position. He will drive the car that he took to victory lane in the Budweiser Shootout last week.

"I'm not the one making those decisions, but I'm the one who screws them up," said Harvick.

"It's obviously a curve-ball this late in the week that you don't usually like to deal with, but they'll do a good job in dealing with it and do the right things with the cars. Luckily we have a car we know is decent."

Also switching to back ups and moving to the back of the field are Michael Waltrip, Scott Speed and Matt Kenseth.

Daytona 500 - race line-up:

Pos  Driver              Make
 1.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet
 2.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet
 3.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet
 4.  Kyle Busch          Toyota   
 5.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet
 6.  Brian Vickers       Toyota   
 7.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet
 8.  Juan Montoya        Chevrolet
 9.  Joey Logano         Toyota   
10.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota   
11.  Aric Almirola       Chevrolet
12.  Bobby Labonte       Ford     
13.  Kurt Busch          Dodge    
14.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet
15.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge    
16.  Carl Edwards        Ford     
17.  Scott Riggs         Toyota   
18.  Jeremy Mayfield     Toyota   
19.  Paul Menard         Ford     
20.  AJ Allmendinger     Dodge    
21.  Jamie McMurray      Ford     
22.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet
23.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota   
24.  David Stremme       Dodge    
25.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet
26.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet
27.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota   
28.  David Reutimann     Toyota   
29.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge    
30.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge    
31.  Robby Gordon        Toyota   
32.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet
33.  David Ragan         Ford     
34.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge    
35.  Greg Biffle         Ford     
36.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet
37.  John Andretti       Chevrolet
38.  Scott Speed         Toyota   
39.  Matt Kenseth        Ford     
40.  Bill Elliott        Ford     
41.  Travis Kvapil       Ford     
42.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet
43.  Terry Labonte       Toyota