Rick Minter's OBSERVATIONS
Some key storylines heading into the Daytona 500.
The Cinderella story

EARNHARDT JR.

The pole run for the Daytona 500 became another chapter in the Cinderella story of David Gilliland and in the ongoing turnaround of Robert Yates Racing.

Gilliland, an unknown this time last year, won the pole for the Daytona 500 in his first try, and he did it for the Yates team, which was in disarray for most of last season.

Ricky Rudd, who came out of retirement to drive the No. 88 Yates Ford vacated by Dale Jarrett, took the outside pole, giving the veteran Yates his fifth Daytona 500 pole and his second sweep of the top starting spots for the sport's premier race.

"This is the best day we've had in a while," Yates said on Sunday. "It's as good as back in the day, or better."

Gilliland, who was hired to drive the No. 38 vacated by Elliott Sadler, said it's better than he has ever had it.

"I couldn't ask for anything more as a rookie coming to Daytona for the first time," he said.

Rudd said the early season success is due to the cooperation between his team and Gilliland's.

"I've been there before where you worked harder to beat your teammate than you did others, and it's not supposed to be that way," Rudd said. "I'm really pleased with what we've got going on right now."

Junior's demands

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has cleared up any doubts about what he wants in the way of a contract with his car owner and stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt. Earnhardt Jr. wants controlling ownership of Dale Earnhardt Inc., the company founded by his late father and now run by Teresa.

Reaction from the garage indicates that Earnhardt Jr. is so popular that he can get whatever he wants, either from DEI or some other team when his current contract expires at the end of this year.

"He is the most popular driver; he has been successful," Kevin Harvick said. "He deserves the respect ... of being a grown man and not being treated like he is 15 and somebody's stepson."

Harvick said it's in the best interest of the entire sport for Earnhardt Jr. to be in a good working environment, whether it's at DEI or Richard Childress Racing or somewhere else.

"Absolutely I would welcome him as a teammate. But in the end, I think everybody wants [Earnhardt Jr. and DEI] to try and work it out. ... The situation is he is our sport's most popular driver, and he needs to have a good, stable condition and everything going how he needs it to go because he is the figurehead of what we do. We are all here to support him and do what he needs to make his situation the best."

Hard tire, slow go

It seems that a new harder right tire supplied by Goodyear could result in some subpar competition on the track. Or at least that's the opinion offered by top drivers after Saturday's Budweiser Shootout.

"I expected the racing to be closer than it was," said Shootout winner Tony Stewart. "Why do we have a harder tire on the right side this time?"

The answer seems to be that Goodyear wants to be sure that the right front tires don't blow out and send drivers slamming into the wall.

That puts the emphasis on having a car's chassis tuned to perfection, according to Jeff Burton.

"[The Daytona 500] is going to be a very, very big handling race," Burton told reporters at Daytona. "It's going to mean everything."

Tire compounds, and a rough racing surface at Las Vegas Motor Speedway have NASCAR and Goodyear officials searching for a different tire compound for that newly repaved track. In the meantime, a 13-gallon fuel cell - down from the normal 18 - has been mandated for the upcoming UAW Daimler Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas.

Toyota's disappointing start

Toyota's debut in NASCAR competition has been less than spectacular. Dale Jarrett drew the pole for the Bud Shootout but never led a lap and finished 18th. Brian Vickers, the only other Toyota driver in the field, led two laps but finished eighth.

In pole qualifying for the Daytona 500, the fastest Camry was the No. 00 of David Reutimann, who was 15th. Jarrett was 50th of the 61 drivers who ran against the clock, and Vickers was 45th. Michael Waltrip qualified 25th fastest, but his qualifying efforts were under a cloud of suspicion after NASCAR officials discovered a possible performance-enhancing substance in the intake manifold of his No. 55 Toyota.