By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor
Sometimes crew chiefs don’t get their full due in the sport of NASCAR. That wasnt the case Friday at Daytona International Speedway as crew chiefs were at the forefront of how the grid for Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited was decided.
The exhibition event’s starting lineup was decided by a random draw from the crew chiefs of the teams eligible to compete.
Chad Knaus, Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief, nabbed the pole position for the race. Johnson has won at Daytona three times in his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, and he is the 2005 champion of this event.
Brad Keselowski will lineup alongside Johnson in the second spot, AJ Allmendinger will start third. Kyle Larson and Ryan Newman will round out the top-five starters for Saturday night.
Here is the full starting lineup for the 2016 Sprint Unlimited:
1. 48-Jimmie Johnson
2. 2-Brad Keselowski
3. 47-AJ Allmendinger
4. 42-Kyle Larson
5. 31- Ryan Newman
6. 13-Casey Mears
7. 78-Martin Truex Jr.
8. 15-Clint Bowyer
9. 18-Kyle Busch
10. 3-Austin Dillon
11. 17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
12. 10-Danica Patrick
13. 20-Matt Kenseth
14. 27-Paul Menard
15. 11-Denny Hamlin
16. 16-Greg Biffle
17. 43-Aric Almirola
18. 14-Brian Vickers
19. 19-Carl Edwards
20. 5-Kasey Kahne
21. 41-Kurt Busch
22. 4-Kevin Harvick
23. 88-Dale Earnhardt Jr.
24. 1-Jamie McMurray
25. 22-Joey Logano
Image: Jonathan Ferrey/NASCAR via Getty Images
