Menard earns first career pole

Paul Menard's lap of 185.916 mph barely edged Mark Martin for the pole in tonight's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Martin's fast lap was 185.870. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Joe Nemechek and Johnny Sauter rounded out the top five.

Denny Hamlin will start 15th, Jon Wood 22nd, Jeff Burton 23rd and Elliott Sadler 38th.

NASCAR chairman weighs in

Brian France came in yesterday for his annual "state of the sport" press conference, and weighed in on many items.

When it comes to economics, France had the most to say. He knows times are tough for the auto manufacturers, but he said they have repeatedly told NASCAR "their long-standing positions . . . work well."

France said he is not concerned about the recent decision by Chip Ganassi to cease operations for the No. 40 team, nor worried about any other problems when it comes to the large number of teams in the Cup garage.

"Eighteen months ago, maybe shorter, I was being asked by many of you the exact opposite question," France said. "What we said back then is true today, that these run in cycles. We are not immune to a difficult economy. We have had a number of renewals in the sponsorship department. . . . We will always have teams who are not performing well that will be more challenged to keep sponsors, and that is amplified when we have a very tight economy."

Stewart not worried about rain delays

Tony Stewart was bitten by rain last weekend at New Hampshire. He had better luck with it at this race in 2005 when he captured the victory after several long rain delays.

With a 50 percent chance of rain forecast for tonight's race, Stewart says he'll race all night if need be.

"I don't care if it's at 4:30 a.m.," Stewart said. "It could be at 6:30 a.m. Just as long as the sun's not coming up. That's about the only condition I have. As long as the sun's not coming up by the time it ends, we'll be fine. I'm not really much of a 'sun coming up in the morning' person."

Burton between rock (star) and hard place

Jeff Burton is second in the Sprint Cup points, right below Kyle Busch and one spot ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. That puts his garage stall between theirs, and leads to headaches for the South Boston native.

"It's a pain, to be quite honest, because wherever Junior's car leaves or my car leaves, my car gets full of people," Burton said. "My garage gets full of people trying to take pictures. I like the position we're in on this side of the garage. But logistically, it's been tough." -- Jill Erwin