While Austin Dillon claiming the pole in the No. 3 car made all the headlines following qualifying for the Daytona 500, it’s worth nothing that a former Dale Earnahrdt Inc. driver is also on the front row of the 56th running of the Daytona 500.
It has been a wild past five months for Martin Truex Jr. who was removed from the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase following a decision by NASCAR that his team unfairly altered the outcome of the final regular season race at Richmond. By the end of the season his full-time sponsor NAPA Auto Parts announced their plans to leave Michael Waltrip Racing and shortly after the team informed Truex Jr. that he should seek other option to drive in 2014.
Truex Jr. landed at Furniture Row Racing behind the wheel of the No. 78 Chevrolet, a car that Kurt Busch proved just a year ago could be a factor. In the first qualifying session of 2014 Truex placed the car second earning him a Front Row start in Daytona.
“Well, it means a ton to me. Obviously going to a new team, this is the kind of thing that you look for.” said Truex after qualifying. “Can’t say how proud I am of Todd and Cole and Barney and everybody at Furniture Row Racing for what they’ve been able to do, and it’s pretty amazing to not test, run one run yesterday, literally this was only the second time the car had been on the racetrack, and just shows what kind of race cars this team builds, and just proud to be the one holding the gas on the floor today.”
