Michael Waltrip becomes a Kurt Busch fan
Two of Michael Waltrip's Toyotas made it in to the Daytona 500 after qualifying. His car will start second. David Reutimann was fourth fastest in qualifying and is in the race. His starting spot will be determined after the qualifying races on Thursday.
The third car at Michael Waltrip Racing, driven by Dale Jarrett, is not in the Daytona 500. That is making Waltrip a fan of Kurt Busch in the qualifying race.
The 43rd and final starting spot in the Daytona 500 goes to the most recent Cup champion not already qualified. The order of past Cup champions trying to qualify for the Daytona 500 are: Busch, Jarrett and Bill Elliott. If Busch earns a starting spot through the qualifying races, Jarrett can use his championship provisional to get into the race. Jarrett of course can get in the race through the qualifying races too.
"Dale Jarrett has to get in on Thursday -- Kurt Busch is a guy I’ll be pulling for, but mainly I’ll be pulling for Dale Jarrett to be able to race his UPS car up through the middle of it and have a good race on Thursday," said Waltrip, driver of the No. 55 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. "I think he learned a lot last night -- he learned that even though his car wasn’t right, it was fast enough to keep up and be in the middle of things. Dale Jarrett’s a racer and he’ll take that type of car, adjust it and I feel real confident about what he’ll accomplish on Thursday.”