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David Gilliland has made it hard to ignore his presence as the NASCAR field opens the 2007 season with its most famous race at its most famous venue – the Daytona 500 in Dayton, Florida.

In the Bud Shootout at the Daytona track last Saturday night weekend, Gilliland pushed Tony Stewart to the edge before giving way to the win. The next day, he just went out and won the pole for his Robert Yates racing team.

Yates’ racing partner, Ricky Rudd, proved that the #88 car formerly driven by Dale Jarrett still has some juice left in it, even if it no longer sports the paint skin of UPS as it main-sponsor. Rudd placed second in qualifying in the new Masterfoods-sponsored sled.

Jarrett may have wished for his old car back as he managed only the 48th best time in his new Toyota ride. Still, his day went much more successfully than that of his teammate Michael Waltrip, whose car was confiscated following his qualifying run – a run which occurred after an intake manifold from his car had already been confiscated during a pre-qualifying inspection.

As reported on Nascar.com, Waltrip explained that, "[w]hen they felt down inside [the manifold] they felt some oil that wasn't supposed to be there…They couldn't see why the oil was there, so they took the intake.” He added, “quite simply, there's oil in a couple places where it doesn't belong, there's something wrong and we don't know why.”

Should the problems result in Waltrip failing to qualify for this year’s race, it would be the first Daytona 500 in the last twenty-one that he failed to start.

Like Waltrip, Kasey Kane and Matt Kenseth’s cars were confiscated following post-qualifying inspections. According to NASCAR officials, any fines, point penalties or suspensions related to the qualifications would be announced later this week.

Last year’s Daytona winner and NEXTEL Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson, qualified in 10th-place, while his Hendricks Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, logged the 7th-fastest time. Gordon won in 2005 and looks to make-up for last year’s disastrous 26th-place finish.

Juan Pablo Montoya’s debut in NASCAR is just about underway. Proving his prowess with no other cars on a track, he recorded the 4th-best time. Montoya previously explained that his career in Indy cars did not produce as many passes as occur in one NASCAR race, so it will be well-worth watching how Montoya navigates Florida’s superspeedway with the accompaniment of the sheer excitement and intensity of live race conditions at NASCAR’s premier event.

Given Jarrett and Waldrip’s circumstances in qualifying, Toyota experienced a rather inauspicious Daytona debut on the racing surface. Rookie David Reutimann in the #00 Domino’s Pizza Camry was Toyota’s best qualifier of the day, notching the 14th best qualifying time. Jeremy Mayfield was right behind Reutimann in his #36 Toyota, sponsored by 360 OTC.

Tony Stewart’s hard-charging win in Saturday’s Bud Shootout proved that he is raring to go as 2007 gets underway. Stewart is never a bad-bet at Daytona.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has traditionally fared well in the restrictor-plate races like at Daytona. However, the current turmoil at DEI over his pending contract renegotiations could filter into the garage and keep his focus just far enough away from winning to make a difference in the #3 Chevy’s chances to notch another Daytona win.

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