[onlooker]

Didnt expect to see Jeff Burton taking the pole for the Daytona 500.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Richard Childress locked Jeff Burton in a bearhug and didn't want to let go.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup team owner made a big financial and emotional investment during the winter to get his team back to the sport's top echelon. The changes paid their first dividend Sunday, with Burton putting his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet on the pole for the Daytona 500.

"It's big," said Burton, who hadn't won a pole in more than five years. "Hopefully, it's another sign that this team is getting ready to turn things around."

Childress had one of the strongest teams in the sport until longtime driver and friend Dale Earnhardt was killed in a crash during the 2001 Daytona 500. Kevin Harvick had a good season for RCR after replacing Earnhardt the following week at Rockingham, but the team has struggled in the years since.

Childress was determined to turn things around, making numerous personnel changes and radically improving the team's equipment since the end of the 2005 season. This was the first big test.

"Yeah, it's emotional," Childress said. "We've struggled for the last few years. We've got to put it all together and we've got to start winning."

Burton outran 57 other competitors to earn the top starting spot for the Feb. 19 race, his third career pole and first since the fall 2000 race in Richmond, when he was driving for Roush Racing.

His fast lap of 189.151 mph on a windy, chilly day at Daytona International Speedway was the fastest qualifying run on the 2.5-mile, high-banked oval since Dale Jarrett's 191.091 in February 2000.

"We knew we had a fast car yesterday, we just didn't know how fast these others guys really were," Burton said.

Three-time and defending Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon, one of the last drivers to take to the track on the windy afternoon, came close to knocking Burton's Chevrolet off the top spot with a lap of 188.877 in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Harvick, the star of the team's driving trio, was among the fastest in practice on Saturday and was one of the favorites to win the pole. But he wound up 13th in qualifying. Teammates Burton and rookie Clint Bowyer both made it into the top 10, though.

Bowyer led the large 2006 first-year class at 187.786, good for seventh.

"RCR has always been pretty good at plate racing," the youngster said.

NASCAR requires horsepower-sapping carburetor restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega to keep the cars under 200 mph in the interest of safety.

Burton's success in Sunday's qualifying came as no surprise to the pole winner.

"After we tested down here [in January], I went home and told my wife, 'You know, we have a shot at the pole in Daytona.' She said I was crazy," said Burton, whose only victory at Daytona came in the July race in 2000. "But we were a little lucky, too. We caught the wind just right. I looked up and saw one flag was almost laying flat and the other one was blowing across the track. I thought, 'This could be big.' "

Only the top two qualifiers locked in starting positions in the 500. The rest of qualifying results are used to set the lineups for Thursday's two 150-mile qualifying races.

The top 35 teams in last year's standings are guaranteed starting positions in the race, leaving just eight positions for the rest of the entries. The two top-finishing nonqualified drivers from each of the Thursday races will make the field, along with the fastest remaining drivers from Sunday's time trials.

Robert Yates Racing teammates Jarrett and Elliott Sadler just missed the front row with laps of 188.849 and 188.810 in a pair of new Ford Fusions. They were followed by Gordon's teammate Jimmie Johnson at 188.762 in a Chevy and Bobby Labonte, making his first start for Petty Enterprises, at 187.935 in a Dodge.

Among the other big names, top 2005 rookie Kyle Busch was 10th, followed in 11th by older brother and former series champion Kurt Busch, making his debut for Penske Racing South. Reigning Cup champion Tony Stewart was 18th, 2005 runner-up Greg Biffle 25th, third-place Carl Edwards 26th and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., 39th.

The fastest of the drivers not guaranteed a starting position was two-time Daytona 500 winner Bill Elliott, eighth at 187.715. Travis Kvapil and Hermie Sadler, 19th and 20th, were next fastest among the entries who must drive into the race.

Those three will make the 43-car field, either by racing in on Thursday or because of their qualifying speeds.

Two-time Cup champion Terry Labonte, who qualified 28th, is also guaranteed a spot. If he doesn't make it as one of the top 14 in his qualifying race, he will get the 43rd spot as the most recent series champion not in the top 35 in points.

[Illusion]

Only 11 more months of this NASCAR haters.