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Daytona Beach, Fl

This is Dale Earnhardt's first career Daytona 500 pole (189.510 mph, 47.491 seconds). It came in his 18th Daytona 500 qualifying effort after qualifying second for the 500 in 1990, 1994 and 1995.

The Daytona 500 has been won on seven occasions from the pole:

Fireball Roberts - 1962

Richard Petty - 1966

Cale Yarborough - 1968 and 1984

Buddy Baker - 1980

Bill Elliott - 1985 and 1987

No driver has won the Daytona 500 from the pole since the inception of restrictor plate racing in 1988.

The Winston Cup Leader Bonus will pay $10,000 to the driver who wins the race and leads the NASCAR Winston Cup points at the conclusion of the race. When there is no such winner the money will role over to the next race. This new program is part of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. $ 4 million NASCAR Winston Cup point fund.

This is Earnhardt's 21 career NASCAR Winston Cup pole and came in his 512th career start. It is his 12th superspeedway pole.

Earnhardt's last NASCAR Winston Cup pole came at Richmond in September, 1995 (8 races ago). Earnhardt had three poles last season.

This is the first pole for Cheverolet in 1996. Chevrolet posted 18 poles in the 31 races last season.

The UNOCAL Challenge is worth $83,600. If Earnhardt would win the Daytona 500 from the pole this award would be added to his winnings. It was won 11 races ago by Bobby Labonte at Michigan, where he won $7,600.

Ernie Irvan was second fastest (189.366 mph, 47.527 seconds) and will start on the outside front row. He started second and won the 1991 Daytona 500 when the late Davey Allison won the pole.

Jeff Gordon, the 1995 Winston Cup Champion, posted the sixth fastest speed (188.588 mph, 47.723 seconds)

Refer to the Daytona 500 Qualifying Procedures for an explanation on the starting lineup for the Daytona 500 is determined.