No more snickers about Yates

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- How sweet was this? A year ago, the wheels were about to fall off of Robert Yates Racing. Yates had struggled through what the 63-year-old car owner called "one of the lowest" seasons of his career in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series after one driver, Elliott Sadler, defected in midseason to drive Dodges for Evernham Motorsports, and his other driver, Dale Jarrett, with whom Yates had won a championship in 2000, jumped ship at season's end to drive for Michael Waltrip's fledgling Toyota team, taking with him his UPS sponsor.

"There was a time last year," Yates said, "when I felt I may be the problem and wasn't in love with it, and really wanted to leave it."

Yesterday, though, Yates got sweet redemption when his drivers -- 30-year-old rookie David Gilliland of Riverside, Calif., and 50-year-old veteran Ricky Rudd of Chesapeake, Va. -- combined to sweep the front row in pole qualifications for the 49th Daytona 500. It marked the second time in Daytona history Yates's drivers had swept the top two starting positions in the 43-car field since Jarrett and Rudd did so as teammates in 2000.

"This is a good day," Yates said. "This is as good as back in the day or better. It's the best day we've had in a while, so I'm happy to be here."

Gilliland, driving the No. 38 M&Ms Ford Fusion, captured the pole position with a lap of 188.320 miles per hour while Rudd, making his 29th Daytona 500 start at the wheel of the No. 88 Snickers Ford, grabbed the outside pole in 185.609 m.p.h. to form a chocoholic's perfect front row.

"Our whole program at Robert Yates Racing is looking good," said Gilliland's crew chief, Todd Parrott, who left Petty Enterprises to return to his roots at Yates Racing last season, in part, to help right the ship. "It shows today how close and what kind of team we have. Butch [Hylton, Rudd's crew chief] and the 88 team and Ricky in the Snickers Ford, it's an all-candy front row for the Daytona 500 and it's gonna be really sweet come next Sunday. I'm really excited."

Not as much as Gilliland will be when he makes his Daytona 500 debut from the pole, marking his second such start in as many restrictor-plate races after winning the pole at Talladega last October.

"Daytona is the biggest race," said Gilliland, who burst upon the scene when he helped his unsponsored, independent Busch Series team capture an upset victory at Kentucky Speedway last June in his seventh career start. "It's something I've dreamt of doing my whole life; coming to Daytona. And to come here for your first time and to be involved with such a great organization and to have a chance for the pole and to actually get it . . . this has definitely been the biggest thing for me and something I'll never forget."

Gilliland and Rudd, as a result, will start on the pole in their respective qualifying heats in Thursday's Gatorade Duel 150s, which will determine the last four spots in the 43-car field. Starting positions 3 through 39 will go to the Top 35 in the 2006 owner points and to the two highest finishers in each of the Duels; Nos. 40 through 42 (Boris Said, Sterling Marlin, and Johnny Sauter) will go to the fastest qualifiers outside the Top 35 in the points; and a provisional No. 43 spot to Dale Jarrett, a past champion.

"I'm just tickled to death to see this for all the guys that weathered the storm they had last year," said Rudd, who came out of a one-year retirement to fill the seat vacated by Jarrett. "They've worked hard over the winter. They've built some awful fast race cars and through my whole career I've never had the fortunate opportunity to work with somebody like David Gilliland . . . I don't know how to describe this go-round. It's just a very low-pressure deal and everybody sort of believes in each other."