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COUNTDOWN TO DAYTONA: GOING FOR THE POLE

When the teams and drivers of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series descend on Daytona International Speedway next month, the first battle they all want to win is the one for the pole position.

Qualifying number one for NASCAR’s biggest race not only carries significant bragging rights, but it also brings a little extra peace of mind knowing your starting position won’t have to be determined in the cauldron of Thursday’s twin 150-mile qualifying races.

Daytona being Daytona, there’s extra kudos, too, for taking the pole in the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series, so nobody’s going to be leaving much on the table when it comes to qualifying.

When it comes to taking pole positions, two of the very best are Toyota drivers. Brian Vickers, driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Racing NASCAR Toyota Camry earned a career-high six Sprint Cup poles in 2009, while no one in the history of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has collected more poles than Mike Skinner, pilot of the No. 5 Randy Moss Motorsports Tundra.

Both will be aiming to claim a pole position at the fabled Daytona International Speedway, where the Truck Series will race on Feb. 12 and the Sprint Cup season-opening Daytona 500 takes places just two days later.

At 2.5 miles in length and with speeds approaching 200 miles per hour, Daytona provides a stern test of drivers and machinery alike. But you can be assured both Vickers and Skinner are up to the task, and so are the Toyotas they each drive.

Vickers, well known as someone who studies hard at his craft, was especially impressive last season, as he claimed poles on a short track, a road course and 1.5- and 2-mile speedways.

“I approach a qualifying run the same for any race track, no matter if it is an oval, short track or road course,” says Vickers. “I still mentally walk myself through the lap several times, especially prior to qualifying.”

His secrets at Daytona? Lots of horsepower from his TRD, U.S.A.-built Toyota engine helps a lot, but the real key is getting the chassis dialed in.

“This race, these cars and this track – the handling is everything,” says Vickers. “It’s a handful. The motor matters a lot for the speed, but the handling is a lot of it.”

For Skinner, who has earned an amazing 50 poles in 204 Truck Series starts, getting into a “no guts, no glory” mindset also comes in handy at qualifying time.

“I think the desire and the willingness to scare the heck out of yourself for two laps comes into play,” says Skinner, one of the preseason favorites in this year’s title hunt. “We run a spacer plate under the carburetor now that takes about a hundred horsepower or so out of the engine. We got to making so much horsepower, these trucks got to running over 200 miles an hour at some of these places. They're just not aerodynamically sound for that. NASCAR slowed us down to keep us from flying up and hurting somebody in the stands or hurting ourselves.”

And that’s where having guts was a big advantage for Skinner.

“A few years ago, there might have been only three or four of us in the field who were crazy enough, brave enough, stupid enough, I'm not really sure which, to try to hold it wide open all the way around of the racetrack,” says Skinner. “I've been blessed to have the ability to be one of those people who’s been able to do that.”

With Daytona Speedweeks around the corner, Vickers, Skinner and the rest of the Toyota pilots will be holding the throttle wide open with just one aim — to be on the pole for the biggest race of their respective seasons.

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