Daytona 500 2015: Full Qualifying Results, Analysis Ahead of Next Sunday's Race

Jeff Gordon isn't taking it easy in his Sprint Cup swan song.

The 43-year-old captured the pole for the 2015 Daytona 500 Sunday after making it through the qualifying rounds, eventually topping Jimmie Johnson by 0.035 seconds.

You can view the full results below.

Pos.	Driver	Best Speed (MPH)	Best Time (sec.)
1	Jeff Gordon	201.293	44.711
2	Jimmie Johnson	201.135	44.746
3	Denny Hamlin	200.933	44.791
4	Matt Kenseth	200.214	44.952
5	Kyle Busch	200.187	44.958
6	Kasey Kahne	199.867	45.030
7	Carl Edwards	197.837	45.492
8	Ty Dillon	197.507	45.568
9	Austin Dillon	196.962	45.694
10	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	195.080	46.135
11	Jamie McMurray	193.133	46.600
12	Martin Truex Jr.	190.678	47.200
13	Johnny Sauter	198.220	45.404
14	Greg Biffle	197.477	45.575
15	Trevor Bayne	197.256	45.626
16	Sam Hornish Jr.	197.243	45.629
17	Aric Almirola	197.200	45.639
18	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	196.816	45.728
19	Brad Keselowski	193.357	46.546
20	Ryan Blaney	193.282	46.564
21	Joey Logano	193.241	46.574
22	Michael Waltrip	190.517	47.240
23	J.J. Yeley	199.256	45.168
24	Bobby Labonte	199.067	45.211
25	Paul Menard	198.325	45.380
26	Alex Bowman	198.229	45.402
27	AJ Allmendinger	198.212	45.406
28	Ryan Newman	198.177	45.414
29	Kevin Harvick	197.994	45.456
30	Kurt Busch	197.976	45.460
31	Tony Stewart	197.968	45.462
32	Danica Patrick	197.959	45.464
33	Casey Mears	197.946	45.467
34	Brian Scott	197.828	45.494
35	Michael Annett	196.554	45.789
36	Justin Allgaier	196.532	45.794
37	Kyle Larson	195.588	46.015
38	David Gilliland	195.346	46.072
39	Michael McDowell	195.300	46.083
40	Jeb Burton	195.004	46.153
41	Clint Bowyer	194.995	46.155
42	Reed Sorenson	194.978	46.159
43	Justin Marks	194.675	46.231
44	David Ragan	194.452	46.284
45	Cole Whitt	194.012	46.389
46	Josh Wise	193.386	46.539
47	Landon Cassill	193.299	46.560
48	Mike Wallace	192.509	46.751
49	Ron Hornaday Jr.	190.791	47.172

Controversy about the qualifying structure arguably overshadowed Gordon winning the pole. It was hard to ignore how it slowed down the action, and many drivers voiced their displeasure with the way Sunday's event was run.

Rather than the standard one car on the track at a time, which was the normal protocol at Daytona for over 50 years, NASCAR instead used the knockout structure seen last year. That meant multiple cars would be running at the same time.

The Associated Press, via ESPN.com, described the difficulties with using that style of qualifying at Daytona International Speedway:

"

The format was not tried at the Daytona 500 last year, but was used at the speedway in July.

The group qualifying works fine at most racetracks, but has been proven tricky at Daytona and Talladega, where drivers must draft and the leader is not the fastest car. It's led to strategies that have drivers sitting on pit road watching the clock, and jockeying for position when it's time to go.

"

It didn't take long for everything to blow up in NASCAR's face. Clint Bowyer and Reed Sorenson were involved in an accident shortly after the first round began.

Bowyer didn't necessarily blame Sorenson for the wreck, instead focusing the brunt of his anger on NASCAR officials, per Jeff Gluck of USA Today:

"

It's idiotic to be out here doing this anyway. There's no sense in trying to put on some cute show for whatever the hell this is. Then you've got a guy out there in desperation doing this crap like this. There's no reason to be out here.

These guys have spent six months working on these cars, busting their (rears) on these cars, to go out there and have some guy out of desperation do that crap.

"

Ryan Newman was also withering in his critique of the format.

"It's hard to stand behind NASCAR when everybody I talk to up and down pit road doesn't understand why we're doing this," he said, per the AP. "Maybe I need to be sat down and educated a little bit."

Whether NASCAR was right or wrong to change the qualifying structure for the Daytona 500, the decision to do so became an unnecessary nuisance to the biggest race of the season.

One driver who didn't seem to mind the switch was Gordon, per ESPN's Marty Smith:

His comment was likely more tongue in cheek, but there's something to be said for Gordon properly navigating the difficult maze that is qualification and coming out on top. It wasn't the prettiest pole victory, but it counts all the same.

Plus, it's impossible to ignore the narrative of Gordon winning the Daytona 500 pole in his final season on the Sprint Cup circuit. It's the kind of thing that almost seems too good to be true. Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee joked that the fix was in from the beginning:

The fact that the No. 24 car sat on the Daytona 500 pole only once before seems a bit surprising given Gordon's massive successes throughout the years. However, the only other time he started out in first position, he took home the checkered flag, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Gordon winning his last Daytona 500 would be the cherry on top, but sports often aren't that sentimental. With the amount of talented drivers hovering near the top of the starting field, he will unlikely enter next Sunday as the presumptive favorite.