David Gilliland and Ricky Rudd won the top two starting spots Sunday in qualifying for the Daytona 500, putting Yates back on the racing map after a horrendous season.

He lost his drivers, a sponsor and both of his crew chiefs in a tumultuous year that saw the once-proud team collapse to the point that Yates was convinced he was dying. But just like a true racer, the car owner refused to close shop and fought to keep the family business on the track.

He handed the keys to his two cars to Gilliland, an unproven rookie, and Rudd, the Iron Man of NASCAR who spent last year mowing the 30 acres of grass on his North Carolina farm.

They proved Sunday that there’s life in this Yates team, after all.

Gilliland turned a lap of 186.320 mph to win the pole, and Rudd was right behind at 185.609 to put themselves on the front row for the season-opening Daytona 500 next Sunday.

“It’s like a dream that I’m afraid to wake up from,” said Gilliland, coming off Saturday night’s second-place finish in the exhibition Budweiser Shootout.

Gilliland and Rudd were the only two drivers to lock down their starting spots under a complicated qualifying procedure for NASCAR’s biggest event of the year. The top 35 drivers from 2006 are assured a spot in the 500, but their starting position will be determined by a pair of qualifying races Thursday.

USA Today