Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won the pole for the Daytona 500 in Pole Day qualifying three days ago, will start in the back on Sunday. Earnhardt was involved in an accident during practice Wednesday and will go to a backup car. He will start his qualifying race Thursday in the back but cannot improve his position for the Daytona 500. Since the front row is locked in on Pole Day, Earnhardt can't improve his starting spot in the qualifying race, something every other driver can do except Jeff Gordon, who also earned a front-row spot. The rest of the grid positions are set in the two 60-lap qualifying races Thursday. Earnhardt was running in a two-car tandem Wednesday with teammate Jimmie Johnson when the accident occurred exiting Turn 4. Johnson checked up because three slower cars -- driven by Robby Gordon, David Gilliland and Michael Waltrip -- were veering over in front of him. Read more: http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=6128841
