Qualifing question for NASCAR fans?

Since David Ragan didn't take a time, why is he ahead of Michael McDowell on the grid"? In fact McDowell had a faster speed then 5 other drivers.

DAVE2011-03-07T18:10:09Z

Favorite Answer

If your car is among the top 35 in owner's points you start in the top 35 as long as you don't change engine or transmission. The fastest 43 don't automatically make the race. There's the top 35 and three provisionals plus the fastest five "go or go home" cars. They wrote the rules that way so that everybody shows up every week. Before the top 35 rule some teams stopped going to races that involved really long hauls to get there or that had the smallest prize funds. At times they didn't have enough cars to fill the field.

99potatoes2011-03-06T17:29:35Z

Owners points?