DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Jerry Markland/Getty Images North America photo —

Sometimes its better to be lucky than good.

Friday afternoon, the lineup was set for the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway (8:15 p.m. ET, FOX) and Richard Childress Racing’s Paul Menard was the recipient of the No. 1 pill.

Kasey Kahne will flank Menard on the outside of the front row of the 75-lap non-points invitational for Sprint Cup pole winners, defending winners of the race and, new for 2015, last year’s Chase participants and former Daytona 500 pole winners.

Menard sits on the pole after originally not even being eligible to compete under the normal requirements. The Eau Claire, Wisconsin native gained access to the race when Brian Scott, David Gilliland, Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger all elected not to take part in the race, opening up spots for Clint Bowyer, Menard, Casey Mears and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. via last year’s driver points.

Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski will start in row two, with former Sprint Unlimited winner Kyle Busch (2013) rounding out the front five.

Kyle Larson was the unluckiest driver of the lot, as he will start last among the 25-driver starting field.

The 75-lap race will be made up of two segments, with a competition caution coming at Lap 25 to separate the segments of the non-points event. Caution laps will count during the lap 25 yellow, as confirmed today via the NASCAR on FOX announcing crew.

Denny Hamlin won the race last season over Brad Keselowski by 0.197 seconds.

The green flag for the first race of the NASCAR season will fly tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern, with live television coverage on FOX.