After turnaround, Elliott goes to Daytona as sentimental favorite

Bill Elliott's fifth-fastest qualifying time made the Woods Brothers the happiest team in the garage. AP

Bill Elliott had the fifth-fastest time in qualifying Sunday for the Daytona 500, guaranteeing a spot for himself and the famous No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in NASCAR's greatest race. They are, undoubtedly, the happiest group in the garage.

Elliott and the Wood Brothers failed to make the race last year. It was a severe disappointment to Elliott, who has raced in it only twice since intentionally becoming a part-time driver following the 2003 season, and devastating to the Wood Brothers, who had been in all of the Daytona 500s since 1962.

They've made an impressive turnaround from 2008, when Elliott was 45th in qualifying and 14th among those without top-35 owner points. That meant Elliott had to race his way into the 500 in the Duel 150 and 16th didn't do it.

"I'm just bummed out," Elliott said.

The Wood Brothers followed with a tough season, 40th in owner points and the loss of a primary sponsor, Little Debbie, for a good chunk of the Sprint Cup schedule. They regrouped this winter. The Wood Brothers have always run Fords. Even in troubled times, the manufacturer rewarded their loyalty with a 12-race sponsorship from Motorcraft. The team and Elliott decided they'd take another shot at making the Daytona 500. It wouldn't have been a surprise to see them fail again.

Elliott was fastest in both practices and then put it into the show as the fastest Ford qualifier. "I don't think anybody has given this team enough credit for what they've done over the winter," Elliott said. "Here we're stacking up with the best guys right there on the board. This is a low-funded race team and if you look at it from the standpoint of a single-car team competing against everybody else, Len [Wood] and Eddie [Wood] have done a heck of a job."

Sunday will be the Wood Brothers 48th race in 51 Daytona 500s. They've won it four times, with Tiny Lund in 1963, Cale Yarborough in 1968, A.J. Foyt in 1972 and David Pearson in 1976. Team founder Glen Wood drove in the first Daytona 500 in 1959. The team has a proud history that dates back to the Daytona races on the beach that it does not want to end.

"We've been preparing for this thing since October," team co-owner Eddie Wood said. "We knew we were going to run a limited schedule, so your first race is the biggest race. The next race we're going to do is Atlanta, so that will be our next biggest race. That's just the way it is.

"The next race is the biggest race no matter where you are," he added, "but the 500 is the 500 and after missing it last year and walking around in here and not having a race car in it... you don't have a place to hang out. You 're just like a duck in a chicken yard and this year I won't have to do that. We'll be in it and that's a tremendous relief."

Elliott last drove in the 500 in 2006, finishing 19th. He's won it twice, in 1985 and 1987, when Awesome Bill From Dawsonville was at the peak of his career. Elliott had 31 of his career 44 Cup victories between 1984 and 1989 and won the championship in 1988. His last victory was at Rockingham in 2002.

This is, of course, a different Daytona 500 than when Elliott set the qualifying record of 210.364 mph in 1987. Restrictor-plate racing has trimmed 20 miles per hour and put a premium on the drafting ability of the car and driver, and finding the right partner at the right time, to get into position to win. And there is the bigger factor of luck, staying out of the Big One.

Elliott won't know how his car handles in the draft until Thursday's Duel 150.

"We've not done any drafting practice and we really don't know," Elliott said. "I watched the cars [in the Budweiser] Shootout and they tended to be [nervous]--whether the drivers were nervous or the cars were nervous, it makes me nervous. But the key is what Richard Petty always told me -- to finish first, first you've got to finish. You've got to get to the end to be able to win this thing.

"It's just like [Kevin] Harvick did the other night [winning the Shootout]. He played his strategy, he did what he needed to do, he got himself in the right place and he took the opportunity and won the race. To me, in a nutshell, that's what the 500 is all about."

Is Elliott, at 53, capable of winning the Daytona 500? Can the Wood Brothers give him a car and team capable of winning the 500. It's a long shot, for sure, but in the Car of Tomorrow restrictor-plate era, it's possible.

They'll certainly a sentimental favorite in the Great American Race. Elliott reigned as NASCAR's most popular driver following 16 seasons between 1984 and 2002. The Wood Brothers began competing in Sprint Cup races in 1953 and have 96 victories with a Who's Who list of drivers.

Tim Tuttle can be reached at siwriters@simail.com.