Elliott and Rudd win qualifiers

The races determined the starting line-up for the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

Bill Elliott (no.94 McDonald's Ford) and Ricky Rudd (no.28 Texaco/Havoline Ford) led the 27 other drivers across the stripe.

Rudd's position was already secured after qualifying on the front row for last Saturday afternoon.

He qualified second-fast and will line up on the outside of Robert Yates Racing team mate and 1999 series champion Dale Jarrett.

Elliott qualified third and his 4th career Twins win this afternoon locked him into that position.

Mike Skinner (no.31 Lowe's Chevrolet) was also able to keep his brand new Monte Carlo in 4th.

From this point on, most of the field shuffled due to their respective 125 race finish order.

The Daytona 500 is not only The Race, it is also unique in how the field is set.

The Twin 125s determine starting positions 3-30 as the front row is set in "regular" first round qualifying.

Removing the front row qualifiers from the 28-car fields in each qualifying race meant there were 26 drivers vying for 15 slots that would advance to the Daytona 500 starting line-up.

Drivers in positions 31-36 are lined up according to their qualifying times and the remaining seven spots are filled using provisionals based on the final 1999 points standings and a past Winston Cup Champion, respectively.

Since 1959, only seven of the 80 qualifying race winners have raced to victory in the Daytona 500.

Dale Earnhardt did in 1998 for his first career 500 win in "The Great American Race".

Earnhardt's streak of winning a 125 every year since 1990 was stopped today by Elliott.

Though he has just one Daytona 500 win in the books, Earnhardt's total victories at The Beach add up to a total of 33.

These include twelve Twin 125s, seven NASCAR Busch Series wins, six Bud Shootouts, five IROC Series victories, two checqered flags in the Pepsi 400 and the one Daytona 500 win.

Series veteran Dave Marcis will miss his first Daytona 500 start in 32 consecutive events.

Marcis is tied with Richard Petty for the most 500 starts, but Petty's were not consecutive.

Daytona International Speedway announced that the total purse for the race has been increased to $9,367,816, a new Series record.

Additional revenues from the sales of rights to international television broadcasters added to the already large purse.

There are 13 drivers who did not make the field: Geoffrey Bodine, Brett Bodine, Jim Sauter, Jeff Fuller, Carl Long, Bobby Gerhart, Dave Marcis, Andy Hillenburg, Stanton Barrett, Ricky Craven, Greg Sacks, Dan Pardus and Norm Benning will watch from the sidelines.

The 42nd annual Daytona 500 will take the green flag on Sunday, February 20, 2000, at 17:15pm GMT.