DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dodge Different.
The car manufacturer's slogan became reality Saturday when NASCAR's newest entry, led by pole-winner Bill Elliott, debuted with an impressive showing in qualifying for the Daytona 500.
Elliott, the 1988 Winston Cup champion and counted on by new team owner Ray Evernham to lead by experience, did just that at Daytona International Speedway in the official debut of the Intrepid.
NASCAR's all-time speed champion — who set numerous records more than a decade ago during the era of unrestricted engines — showed he still knows the fastest way around the 2 1/2-mile, high-banked Daytona oval, turning in a lap of 183.565 mph.
"The lap didn't feel that fast and the car was jumping around," Elliott said of his pole-winning run. "When (crew chief) Mike (Ford) told me the time, it blew me away."
The other front row spot for the Feb. 18 race initially went to Jerry Nadeau, whose Chevrolet Monte Carlo toured the track at 182.763. But that effort was disallowed by NASCAR after a post-qualifying inspection turned up some suspect parts in the car's rear suspension.
Gary Nelson, NASCAR's Winston Cup director, said, "The length on the roof was more than a half inch low. We gave the car back to the team, but we're holding some of the parts for further study."
The investigation is likely to produce a fine for the Hendrick Motorsports team, which also fields cars for two-time Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte. But Nadeau will be allowed to requalify Monday in the second round of time trials.
The action by the sanctioning body gave Dodge a sweep of the front row, with Stacy Compton putting Mark Melling's Intrepid onto the outside pole with a lap of 182.682.
"This means a lot to me, and it means a lot to this team and it means a lot to Dodge," said Compton, whose previous best Winston Cup start in 32 races was eighth last April at California Speedway.
The Melling team had to scramble to replace the engine in Compton's car after what was to be his qualifying engine came up short on power in the morning practice.
"We struggled to get the motor changed, we struggled to get through tech," the driver said. "It was just a long day . . . Yesterday, we ran fast. We never ran as quick this morning, so the only choice we had was to go back to where we were yesterday."
Dodge — whose only history was established in winter testing — wound up taking four of the top eight spots.
Elliott, 45, earned the 50th pole of his career and first since September 1997 at Richmond, Va. It was his fourth Daytona 500 pole, but first in 14 years.
The success was particularly gratifying for Elliott, whose career had appeared to be in decline until late last season when he agreed to sell his own team to Evernham and signed to drive for Jeff Gordon's former crew chief.
The Georgian once known as "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville," said one key to Saturday's success was retaining the chemistry his team exhibited in finishing last season under the direction of Evernham.
"We kept a lot of the key guys from my organization last year that rolled on over into the winter," Elliott said. "I think that was a part of where we needed to be. The only question was the engines, and I felt confident that Ray was going to put the right group of people together to accomplish that feat."
Evernham, selected by Daimler/Chrysler to spearhead the return of its Dodge brand to Winston Cup after a 17-year absence, directed the development of both the new Intrepid and the new Dodge engine while also putting together the two-car Evernham Motorsports team.
"Ol' Bill Elliott," a grinning Evernham said. "This is unbelievable."
Evernham, whose other driver, 20-year-old rookie Casey Atwood, was 25th at 280.730, added, "Our engine shop's been working 24 hours a day. There's been a constant flow of Dodge engineers and a lot of wives and kids didn't get to see their husbands and fathers over the winter. But, this is great."
Only the top two drivers locked in starting spots in the 43-car Daytona field, with more time trials Monday and two 125-mile qualifying races Thursday.
Three-time Daytona 500 champion Dale Jarrett's Ford was third at 182.622, followed by the Pontiac of Tony Stewart at 182.534, the Chevy of two-time 500 winner Jeff Gordon at 182.474, Ward Burton in an Intrepid at 182.419 and two-time Daytona champ Sterling Marlin — driving a Dodge for the new team of Chip Ganassi — at 182.135.
Some of the biggest-name drivers qualified outside the top 20.
Defending series champion Bobby Labonte, Stewart's teammate, was 21st at 180.923, with former series champion Rusty Wallace next at 180.861 and seven-time champ and former Daytona winner Dale Earnhardt 27th at 180.694.