 The top two times in the final qualifying session were locked in the front row of the Daytona 500 starting grid, while the other 41 starting spots were determined by the two Budweiser Duel races the following Thursday.If a driver failed to make the Top 15 in the Duels, the time that was used to calculate the four drivers that would qualify based on time – and to grid the seven drivers that took provisional starting positions was based solely on the fastest time they set – regardless of qualifying session.In what would be his final Daytona 500 start, Jeff Gordon won the pole with a time of 44.711 and a speed of .