General

Danica Patrick wins pole for Daytona Nationwide Series race

Feb 24, 2012, 9:43 PM UTC

Danica Patrick speaks to reporters after winning the pole for Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300. It’s her first pole in 26 NASCAR Nationwide Series starts. (Matt Weaver/NASCAR Ranting and Raving)

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. - Danica Patrick took the pole for Saturday’s Nationwide Series race with a qualifying time of 49.250 at 182.74 mph. She becomes the second female to post a NASCAR Nationwide Series pole and the first since Shawna Robinson in March of 1994 at Atlanta.

“I’m so happy for Tony [Eury] Jr.,” Patrick said. “From the first time we came to Daytona, he put so much effort into the speedway cars, and he’s really good at them. But he’s never had a pole at Daytona.”

This is her first pole in 26 NASCAR Nationwide Series starts. Her best Nationwide Series finish was a fourth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2011, a record for a woman in NASCAR's national series.

Trevor Bayne, the defending Daytona 500 race-winner starts on the outside of row one. He was just 0.007 seconds slower than Patrick.

“We’ve got enough sponsorship to last us the first three races,” Bayne said. “After that we’re going to need some help. I think this was a good opportunity to show what this team is capable of.”

Elliott Sadler, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Austin Dillon and Sam Hornish Jr. round out the first three rows.

Complete qualifying results can be found on the other side of the jump!

Time Trial Results
Daytona International Speedway
31st Annual DRIVE4COPD 300
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Fri, February 24, 2012 @ 03:57 PM Eastern
Track Qualifying Record: Tommy Houston 02/14/87 46.2989 194.389

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Time	Speed	Fastest	Next
1	7	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy.com Chevrolet	49.250	182.741	0.000	0.000
2	60	Trevor Bayne	RFR 25th Ford	49.257	182.715	0.007	0.007
3	2	Elliott Sadler	OneMain Financial Chevrolet	49.269	182.671	0.019	0.012
4	5	Dale Earnhardt Jr.(i)	TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet	49.290	182.593	0.040	0.021
5	3	Austin Dillon #	Advocare Chevrolet	49.339	182.411	0.089	0.049
6	12	Sam Hornish Jr.	Alliance Truck Parts Dodge	49.367	182.308	0.117	0.028
7	33	Tony Stewart(i)	Oreo/Ritz Chevrolet	49.383	182.249	0.133	0.016
8	88	Cole Whitt #	Hellmann's Chevrolet	49.421	182.109	0.171	0.038
9	22	Brad Keselowski(i)	Discount Tire Dodge	49.425	182.094	0.175	0.004
10	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Kellogg's Pop Tarts Ford	49.497	181.829	0.247	0.072
11	38	Kasey Kahne(i)	Great Clips Chevrolet	49.550	181.635	0.300	0.053
12	31	Justin Allgaier	Brandt Chevrolet	49.588	181.496	0.338	0.038
13	44	Mike Bliss	Tri-Star Motorsports Toyota	49.606	181.430	0.356	0.018
14	1	Kurt Busch(i)	Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet	49.634	181.327	0.384	0.028
15	30	James Buescher(i)	FOE Chevrolet	49.669	181.200	0.419	0.035
16	43	Michael Annett	Pilot/Flying J Ford	49.708	181.057	0.458	0.039
17	18	Denny Hamlin(i)	Z-Line Designs Toyota	49.733	180.966	0.483	0.025
18	36	Ryan Truex	Grime Boss Chevrolet	49.743	180.930	0.493	0.010
19	11	Brian Scott	Dollar General Toyota	49.755	180.886	0.505	0.012
20	14	Eric McClure	Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota	49.796	180.737	0.546	0.041
21	70	Johanna Long #	Foretravel Chevrolet	49.831	180.610	0.581	0.035
22	20	Joey Logano(i)	GameStop Toyota	49.840	180.578	0.590	0.009
23	27	David Ragan(i)	CertainTeed/Mercury Ford	49.908	180.332	0.658	0.068
24	54	Kyle Busch(i)	Monster Energy Toyota	50.023	179.917	0.773	0.115
25	19	Tayler Malsam	G-Oil Toyota	50.096	179.655	0.846	0.073
26	09	Kenny Wallace	Family Farmers Toyota	50.113	179.594	0.863	0.017
27	87	Joe Nemechek	D.A.B. Constructors Toyota	50.209	179.251	0.959	0.096
28	01	Mike Wallace	G&K Services Chevrolet	50.259	179.072	1.009	0.050
29	15	Timmy Hill(i)	Poynt.com Ford	50.331	178.816	1.081	0.072
30	97	Johnny Sauter(i)	AM FM Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota	50.374	178.664	1.124	0.043
31	41	Blake Koch	Rise Up and Register Ford	50.420	178.501	1.170	0.046
32	08	Casey Roderick	Randy Hill Racing Ford	50.532	178.105	1.282	0.112
33	24	Benny Gordon	Kentucky Antler Co. & VFI Toyota	50.539	178.080	1.289	0.007
34	23	Robert Richardson Jr.	North Texas Pipe Chevrolet	50.559	178.010	1.309	0.020
35	89	Morgan Shepherd	Hylands/GoodInfo.com Chevrolet	50.616	177.809	1.366	0.057
36	39	Joey Gase #	Go Green Racing/JoeyGase.com Ford	50.664	177.641	1.414	0.048
37	51	Jeremy Clements	Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet/92.5 WESC Chevrolet	50.780	177.235	1.530	0.116
38	40	Josh Wise(i)	Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet	50.793	177.190	1.543	0.013
39	73	Derrike Cope	Tito's/Germane Tool Chevrolet	50.818	177.103	1.568	0.025
40	28	JJ Yeley(i)	JPO Absorbents Chevrolet	50.819	177.099	1.569	0.001
41	10	* Jeff Green	Tri-Star Motorsports Toyota	50.853	176.981	1.603	0.034
42	42	Erik Darnell	Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet	50.857	176.967	1.607	0.004
43	50	TJ Bell	Eastbound & Down Chevrolet	50.867	176.932	1.617	0.010
44	81	Jason Bowles #	PledgeToVote.com Dodge	50.891	176.849	1.641	0.024
45	4	Danny Efland	Danny Efland Racing Chevrolet	51.016	176.415	1.766	0.125
46	47	Scott Speed(i)	Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet	51.076	176.208	1.826	0.060
47	74	Mike Harmon	American Fallen Heroes Chevrolet	51.166	175.898	1.916	0.090
48	52	Reed Sorenson	BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU Chevrolet	51.286	175.486	2.036	0.120
49	46	Chase Miller	Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet	51.428	175.002	2.178	0.142
50	76	Donnie Neuenberger	Eagle Convenience Stores Ford	51.801	173.742	2.551	0.373