Can Bill Elliott put the Woods' Ford on the Daytona 500 pole?

  

  
The fastest man in NASCAR history, Bill Elliott (Photo: Autostock)

  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.
   It might not be quite like the good old days, but the Wood brothers and Bill Elliott were at the top of the Daytona 500 speed charts  Saturday morning, when practice opened for Sunday's pole runs for the NASCAR season opener.
   And they say they're gunning for the pole.
   However they were not taking anything for granted: "We thought we were good last year too," Elliott said after his lap at 187.645 mph.
   Last February here Elliott and the Woods failed to make the 500 field.
   "I felt nearly this good a year ago, standing here at this time, but we managed to mess it up for qualifying," Len Wood said. "We burned a gear up.
   "We've talked about not beating ourselves this year, because last year we beat ourselves."
   The Woods and Elliott have a limited schedule of 12 Cup events this season.  "We've worked hard all winter…and it goes back to our plan of preparing for every race we're going to and prepare properly," Wood said. "We're not going to do things we can't do.
    "Hopefully we can sit it on the front row.  If not, we need to be in the top-three fastest of the ones that need to get in."
   That's the go-or-go-homers.
   Elliott says the Woods, though they failed to make the field for a number of Cup races last year, "were getting better last fall…and I think that was overshadowed.
   "The chase overshadows what you do.
   "The problem with this whole sport is there is a select few that gets all the media, and when you're not in every week it's tough to find your place."

  


  The slickest car at Daytona? Bill Elliott and the Woods hope so (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)