qualifying for the daytona 500 is unique in nascar, only the two front row starters (the pole position and the outside pole) are determined by the ordinary qualifying process of timed laps, after the top two positions are locked in, the rest of the starting grid is set in the finishing order in both races, drivers participate in one of the two races, half the field entering the daytona 500 races in the first race, and the other half the second, the finishing order of the first race fills the odd positions in the starting grid (inside of each row), and the finishing order for the second race fills the even positions of the starting grid (outside of each row).