DAYTONA 500 Watch Live Stream FREE Online & Listen: NASCAR 2015 Live Coverage from Daytona International Speedway; STARTING GRID

Today at 1:00 p.m. ET arguably NASCAR's biggest race of the year will get underway from Daytona Speedway in Florida, when the Daytona 500 kicks off with legendary driver Jeff Gordon sitting atop the pole. Watch the race on Fox, or live stream it free by clicking this link.

While several drivers blasted NASCAR's qualifying format after some turbulence ahead of the Daytona 500, Jeff Gordon had no issues. In his final NASCAR season, Gordon is kicking it off right by winning the pole.

"This format is crazy and chaotic," Gordon said. "It can be extremely rewarding when you have a day like we had."

Other drivers, such as Ryan Newman, didn't find the experience so rewarding.

"It's hard to stand behind NASCAR when everybody I talk to up and down pit road doesn't understand why we're doing this," Newman said. "Maybe I need to be sat down and educated a little bit."

NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell tried to placate the angry drivers while defending the new format, which was changed in order to make qualifying more interesting for NASCAR's growing fan base.

"We don't want to see wrecks of any kind. Not lost on us how much work goes into these cars by the teams, the efforts for our biggest race of the year," O'Donnell said. "We've got a really good track record of making adjustments where we need to, so we'll certainly evaluate what took place."

Most importantly, NASCAR got a great storyline out of this qualifying session with Gordon opening the race in first position.

"I can't think of anything cooler than to start this season, the Daytona 500, my final Daytona 500, final full season, on the pole," Gordon said. "It's going to be pretty important for me to be on that pole when it all starts."

STARTING GRID

POS	DRIVER	MANUFACTURER	CAR	SPEED
1	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet		201.293 mph
2	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet		201.135 mph
3	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet		N/A
4	Kyle Busch	Toyota		N/A
5	Joey Logano	Ford		N/A
6	Carl Edwards	Toyota		N/A
7	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet		N/A
8	Greg Biffle	Ford		N/A
9	Clint Bowyer	Toyota		N/A
10	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet		N/A
11	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet		N/A
12	Ryan Blaney	Ford		N/A
13	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet		N/A
14	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	44	N/A
15	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet		N/A
16	Mike Wallace	Toyota		N/A
17	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet		N/A
18	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet		N/A
19	Cole Whitt	Ford		N/A
20	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet		N/A
21	Paul Menard	Chevrolet		N/A
22	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet		N/A
23	Michael McDowell	Ford		N/A
24	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet		N/A
25	J.J. Yeley	Toyota		N/A
26	David Gilliland	Ford		N/A
27	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	46	N/A
28	David Ragan	Ford		N/A
29	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet		N/A
30	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet		N/A
31	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet		N/A
32	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford		N/A
33	Aric Almirola	Ford		N/A
34	Michael Waltrip	Toyota		N/A
35	Matt Kenseth	Toyota		N/A
36	Johnny Sauter	Toyota		N/A
37	Trevor Bayne	Ford	6	N/A
38	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford		N/A
39	Brad Keselowski	Ford		N/A
40	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet		N/A
41	Casey Mears	Chevrolet		N/A
42	Denny Hamlin	Toyota		N/A
43	Bobby Labonte	Ford		N/A