DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., July 5 (UPI) -- Kevin Harvick, last year's NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, Friday earned the pole position for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
Harvick, driving a Goodwrench Chevrolet, knocked perennial Daytona favorite Jeff Gordon off the pole with a lap of 48.638 seconds at an average speed of 185.041 miles per hour.
Harvick was the 31st of 45 drivers to attempt to qualify. After posting his time, he watched Tony Stewart, Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace all make runs at him, but fall short.
Geoff Bodine, who has made only three starts this year but finished third in the season-opening Daytona 500, finished second with a time of 48.841 seconds. Bodine bumped Gordon back to third.
Robby Gordon, Harvick's Chevrolet teammate, and Dale Jarrett completed the top five.
Johnny Benson, Michael Waltrip, Steve Park, defending champion Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Casey Atwood rounded out the top 10.
Wallace, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, 2002 Daytona 500 champion Ward Burton, Jeremy Mayfield and Joe Memechek took provisional starting positions.
Saturday's race starts at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time, and will be televised by Fox Sports.
