In what came as a shock to almost nobody, Austin Dillon drove his Earnhardt-Childress Racing powered No. 3 Chevrolet to the top of the leaderboard in qualifying. Dillon was very fast in both testing and practice for the Daytona 500, so him winning the pole was no surprise. This was also the second year in a row that a rookie has won the pole for the Great American Race.
However, if you’re a Dillon fan, or just a fan of the 3 for that matter, I’m afraid I have some bad news. In recent years, the pole sitter for the Daytona 500 hasn’t had the best finish in the actual race. The last two pole winners, Danica Patrick and Carl Edwards, both came home eighth. 2011 fared worse for Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who could only muster a 24th place finish. The 2010 and 2009 pole sitter finished 12th and 11th respectively. As a matter of fact, the last Daytona 500 pole winner to even finish in the top five was Bill Elliott in 2001, when he finished fifth.
Who was the last person to win from the pole? That was Dale Jarrett in 2000.
These statistics indicate that fans should not get too excited about Dillon’s chances in the big race. However, I still see the 3 car being a formidable opponent all race long. The ECR engines have been strong all throughout testing and practice, so that shows some promise that Dillon can run up front. When all is said and done, I see the 3 car coming home with a solid top 10 finish.
