DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Justin Haley and Brendan Gaughan represented two sides of the same coin at the World Center of Racing on Sunday afternoon during Busch Pole Qualifying.
Haley, 21, represented the youngest driver attempting to make this year’s field for the 62nd annual Daytona 500. Meanwhile, 44-year-old Gaughan was the oldest man trying to race his way into the show.
And while neither Haley nor Gaughan were among the frontrunners for the Daytona 500 pole Sunday afternoon, both still had plenty of cause for celebration at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
The duo ended the day as the fastest two non-chartered teams during Sunday’s time trial session for The Great American Race, guaranteeing themselves each a spot in the 40-car field on Feb. 16 as a result.
Haley, who ended up 31st overall among the 43 qualifiers, turned a lap of 47.364 seconds (190.018 mph) with the No. 16 Fraternal Order of Eagles Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE to lead the seven-driver Open contingent.
The Winamac, Ind., native – who won last July’s rain-shortened Coke Zero 400 at Daytona for his first Cup Series victory – is seeking his second win at NASCAR’s top level, but was happier on Sunday to realize his Xfinity Series team owner Matt Kaulig’s dream of racing in the Daytona 500 at long last.
“This is so awesome. It’s what we came here to do,” noted Haley. “Matt Kaulig had a dream to run the Daytona 500, and now we’ve locked ourselves into the show, which is what our goal was from the first day we announced this program. Now, not only that, but we were the fastest Open car, which is an awesome stamp to put on qualifying. It’s a big deal for us.
“I’m just really thankful that the Fraternal Order of Eagles, everyone at Kaulig Racing and ECR Engines all believed in me for this,” Haley added. “They all have done a great, great job. Everyone believed in me, from Chris Rice (Kaulig Racing president) all the way down. Chris called me in his office and told me he wanted me to run the Daytona 500, so it’s truly a blessing to make this happen for him.
“Hopefully we can go two for two here at Daytona, but if we can’t, it’s just awesome to get Matt Kaulig his first NASCAR Cup Series start next weekend.”
Gaughan is embarking on the final four races of his NASCAR Cup Series career and was admittedly nervous after his qualifying lap of 47.633 seconds (188.945 mph) was a half-second slower than what he ran during time-trial practice on Saturday afternoon.
However, it held up against all the rest, and after Daniel Suarez couldn’t match the speed that Gaughan turned the Las Vegas native finally breathed a sigh of relief. His
“Mr. Beard, you can breathe again. We made it. We’re locked in!” an elated Gaughan exclaimed. “I can go dive now; I’m happy. I can relax. This is such a great feeling, to know it’s my last one, to know I’ve locked in and to know I’ve made it. I never knew when the last one was going to be, but now I know that this one is, and we made it. We’re here and I’m going to have a good ol’ time, I can promise you that.
“We lost a half-second from yesterday – and we knew it’d be slower, there was a lot more wind today, but the 16 (Haley) and us were within hundreds of each other yesterday and they got us by three tenths, so it didn’t look good at that point. That bummed me out then, but it all worked out in the end for us.”
With two of the four Open spots in the Daytona 500 confirmed, Reed Sorenson, Timmy Hill, Daniel Suarez, JJ Yeley and Chad Finchum will be the five drivers racing for two spots during Thursday’s Duels.