Group qualifying bites Cassill, among others

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - When the craziness of Daytona 500 qualifying subsided, Cedar Rapids native Landon Cassill found himself as perplexed as nearly every other driver at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday.

Cassill was in the second group of the first round of knockout qualifying, and among a myriad plans, his didn't work out the way he'd hoped. He posted the 47th fastest time out of the 49 drivers who went on track after he and Josh Wise were caught in between two bigger, stronger packs of cars in their group.

He joined the litany of drivers who expressed some level of displeasure with the format - a few drivers expressing outright anger.

'It just didn't go my way, I guess,” Cassill said. 'I definitely don't really like this group qualifying (at superspeedways), but I haven't had the best experience with it the last couple times. It's hard to say. If you did well at it, you liked it. I don't feel like it really puts the skill in the hands of the driver. It's a matter of how you got off pit road and what group you were in.

'It went unfortunate for us because we had a plan. The group I was meant to go out with were good cars, and I got wedged in between two cars on pit road, so I didn't get behind the car I needed to be behind.”

For smaller teams, qualifying day is always stressful, but the unknowns of group qualifying at superspeedways add a different dimension.

To make the race without question, Cassill needs to finish 15th or better in his Duel race on Thursday night. He'll start 24th in Duel 1. Beyond that, he'll need to fall back on a provisional based on owner's points. His No. 40 team was 34th in last year's owner's points, meaning he has a decent buffer given the likelihood of so many teams ahead of him likely racing their way in and not need a provisional.

'It just depends on who else makes the race or misses the race. So for me my biggest focus has to be racing my way in,” Cassill said. 'I think it does (make things more stressful) just because you don't really know, there's a few more unpredictable scenarios. It just makes it a little more difficult to understand. It makes it more intense.”

Cassill didn't get a chance to talk to fellow drivers after his qualifying run, instead left the track almost immediately. So he missed strong takes from guys like Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart, all who blasted the format and NASCAR for putting drivers in that position.

Bowyer had the strongest take after being involved in a wreck with Reed Sorenson and a host of others. Bowyer said, 'It's idiotic to be out here doing this anyway. There's no sense in being able to try to put on some cute show for whatever the hell this is.”

Stewart took to Twitter to express his frustration, tweeting, 'Today use [sic] to be about showcasing the hard work from the teams over the winter. Now it [sic] a complete embarrassment for our series. #NASCAR.”

'That wouldn't surprise me,” Cassill said. 'Even the drivers who have done well out of it are probably not very fond of it.”

Obviously Cassill wasn't as upset as some of his fellow competitors, and was curious to know what fans thought of the way everything played out. Twitter was a mixed bag, with mostly negative feedback coming from fans.

What they think is paramount, Cassill said. He said he doesn't really mind what happens as long as the fans are enjoying what they see.

'At the end of the day what really matters is what the fans think of it,” Cassill said. 'And honestly I don't know what they think of it. But that's what matters. The fans are the priority.

'In my opinion, the number one worry is if it's a good show. If the fans are raving about it and just absolutely love it, then I'm fully supportive of it. But if the fans are split 50-50 on it and the drivers don't like it, and it's obviously not as safe of a way to qualify, then I'm not really sure why we'd be doing it.”

Jeff Gordon won the pole for Sunday's race, with Jimmie Johnson securing the outside front row starting position.

Starting lineups for Thursday's Duels, which set the starting field for the 57th Daytona 500:

Duel 1

1. No. 24 Jeff Gordon

2. No. 18 Kyle Busch

3. No. 19 Carl Edwards

4. No. 3 Austin Dillon

5. No. 1 Jamie McMurray

6. No. 83 Johnny Sauter

7. No. 6 Trevor Bayne

8. No. 43 Aric Almirola

9. No. 2 Brad Keselowski

10. No. 22 Joey Logano

11. No. 23 JJ Yeley

12. No. 27 Paul Menard

13. No. 47 AJ Allmendinger

14. No. 4 Kevin Harvick

15. No. 14 Tony Stewart

16. No. 13 Casey Mears

17. No. 46 Michael Annett

18. No. 42 Kyle Larson

19. No. 95 Michael McDowell

20. No. 15 Clint Bowyer

21. No. 29 Justin Marks

22. No. 35 Cole Whitt

23. No. 40 Landon Cassill

24. No. 30 Ron Hornaday Jr.

25. No. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Duel 2

1. No. 48 Jimmie Johnson

2. No. 20 Matt Kenseth

3. No. 5 Kasey Kahne

4. No. 33 Ty Dillon

5. No. 78 Martin Truex Jr.

6. No. 16 Greg Biffle

7. No. 9 Sam Hornish Jr.

8. No. 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

9. No. 21 Ryan Blaney

10. No. 55 Michael Waltrip

11. No. 32 Bobby Labonte

12. No. 7 Alex Bowman

13. No. 31 Ryan Newman

14. No. 41 Kurt Busch

15. No. 10 Danica Patrick

16. No. 62 Brian Scott

17. No. 51 Justin Allgaier

18. No. 38 David Gilliland

19. No. 26 Jeb Burton

20. No. 44 Reed Sorenson

21. No. 34 David Ragan

22. No. 98 Josh Wise

23. No. 66 Mike Wallace

24. No. 11 Denny Hamlin*

*Failed post-qualifying inspection; times disallowed

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com