Gordon tops practice

Jeff Gordon made the perfect start in his bid to claim his maiden Daytona 500 pole when he topped the times during final practice for the event, ahead of Sunday's qualifying sessions

autosport.com staff Feb 13, 2005, 9:59 AM

In a two hour afternoon session run before the Budweiser Shootout, Gordon was comfortably quickest with a lap of 47.406 seconds - well clear of Sadler's fastest time of 47.701 seconds. In the morning runs, Salder had been quickest with a 47.833s

Sunday's qualifying session will only set the front row for next weekend's Daytona 500 - although those not given an automatic guaranteed entry to the event because they did not finish in the top 35 in last year's points standing will need to set some good times to ensure they make the race.

Drivers in need of a good finish in the heats or a good time on Sunday include Jason Leffler (Joe Gibbs's new No. 11 FedEx car), Boris Said (in MB2's No. 36), Mike Skinner (in Bill Davis's No. 23 car), Martin Truex (in DEI's No. 1), John Andretti (the No. 14 VB/APlus team), and Robby Gordon (in his new No. 7).