Dale Earnhardt Jr. awarded Daytona pole thanks to Mother Nature

Crew chief Greg Ives and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the garage during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 4, 2015 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Crew chief Greg Ives and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the garage during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 4, 2015 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Crew chief Greg Ives and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the garage during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 4, 2015 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

On a weekend celebrating America, NASCAR’s favorite son was able to hold his own celebration.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored a NASCAR Sprint Cup series pole Saturday thanks to inclement weather around Daytona International Speedway and will lead the field to the green for Sunday’s Coke Zero 400.

It wasn’t rain but threatening skies and lightening that canceled Friday’s qualifying session. The dark clouds forced the speedway to empty the stands and sent NASCAR teams scrambling to first cover, then push their cars back to the garage. At 6:00 p.m. ET, NASCAR felt there wasn’t enough time to get the two rounds of qualifying in prior to the NASCAR Xfinity Series race and called the session. Earnhardt earned the pole as NASCAR sets the field by the first practice results.  Earnhardt led that first session with a fast lap of 202.284 miles per hour.

“I asked Greg (Ives, crew chief) before we went out to practice what we were trying to accomplish in that first practice,” Earnhardt said MORE>>>

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.