DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Disqualifications and complaints about safety issues overshadowed the racing on the first real day of action of the new NASCAR season.

Jeff Burton gave Richard Childress Racing the Daytona 500 pole and some added hope for a turnaround of fortunes this year, while rookie Denny Hamlin surprised the field in the Budweiser Shootout exhibition race Sunday.

But the long day — made longer by the Shootout being postponed from Saturday night by rain — ended with Nextel Cup stars Jimmie Johnson and Terry Labonte having their qualifying laps set aside for rules infractions and Hamlin's veteran teammate Tony Stewart saying the practice of "bump drafting" at Daytona International Speedway is going to get someone hurt or killed.

Among the 58 drivers who made qualifying attempts Sunday on the 2.5-mile track, only Burton and runner-up Jeff Gordon, the three-time and defending Daytona 500 champion, locked in starting positions for next Sunday's race.

The rest of the drivers simply earned starting spots in one of two 150-mile qualifying races Thursday.

Johnson, who had the fifth-fastest lap in time trials, and two-time Cup champion Labonte, who was 28th, will both have to start from the rear in the first of those events.

NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter left open the possibility that their cars could be confiscated by the governing body. Additional penalties also could follow. Hunter said Johnson's Chevrolet did not meet template specifications and Labonte's Chevy had unapproved modifications to the carburetor.

Even as NASCAR inspectors were checking out the cars from qualifying, baby-faced 25-year-old Hamlin was outdueling his elders in the 70-lap Shootout, a race for the previous year's pole winners and former winners of the made-for-TV event.

The veterans bumped and banged on his rear bumper, trying to shove the newcomer, with only seven Cup races at the end of last season under his belt, out of the way. Nothing shook the youngster, though.

"The back bumper is literally ripped off the race car just from getting hit so hard," said Hamlin, the youngest and new member of Joe Gibbs Racing.

Teams are required to use carburetor restrictor-plates at Daytona, NASCAR's fastest track, to sap the horsepower and reduce the speeds around the 21/2-mile track. The result is a long pack of cars unable to separate from one another, forcing drivers to bump draft in an attempt to shove each other out of the way and make a pass.

It's dangerous and Stewart, the reigning Cup champion and Hamlin's teammate, angrily predicted it will lead to disaster at the track where Dale Earnhardt was killed five years ago in an accident.

"They're talking about the tribute to Dale Earnhardt, well, five years from now, we're going to have to do another tribute to another driver because we're probably going to kill somebody (next week)," Stewart barked. "It could be me, it could be Dale Jr., it could be anybody out there."

Not everyone agreed.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second to Hamlin, was less critical of the conditions, chalking up much of the aggression to the nothing-to-lose mentality of the non-points Shootout. With the Daytona 500 title on the line next Sunday, Junior believes the event will be less treacherous.

"Tony's got a point, it was a dangerous in a couple of spots," he said. "It's just hard racing, but it's only going to happen in the Shootout. In the 500, it will not be like that. Everybody will be a lot more calm."

Hamlin sided with Earnhardt in the safety debate.

"There was some major hitting going on out there, but I wasn't complaining because when I was getting it, I was out front," said Hamlin, who led 16 of the 70 laps. "It's the nature of the race. I don't think you'll see that in the 500 because guys won't want to tear up their cars like that."

Hamlin appeared headed toward an easy win when Stewart used a wide pass to take the lead away from him with four laps to go. Seconds later, though, a caution flag came out for debris on the track, setting up a two-lap shootout to the finish.

Stewart restarted on the bottom of the track, with Hamlin right next to him. Hamlin quickly moved out front, then held off challenges from Stewart and Earnhardt. Stewart finished third, followed by Scott Riggs and defending race winner Johnson.

Burton, who hadn't won a pole in more than five years, wasn't in the Shootout. But he and team owner Richard Childress were ecstatic after taking the top spot for NASCAR's biggest event.

"It's big," Burton said after getting an emotional bearhug from his boss. "Hopefully, it's another sign that this team is getting ready to turn things around."

Childress had one of the strongest teams in the sport until longtime driver and friend Earnhardt was killed in a crash during the 2001 Daytona 500. Kevin Harvick had a good season for RCR after replacing Earnhardt the following week at Rockingham, but the team has struggled in the years since.

Childress was determined to turn things around, making numerous personnel changes and radically improving the team's equipment since the end of last season. This was the first big test.

"Yeah, it's emotional," Childress said. "We've struggled for the last few years. We've got to put it all together and we've got to start winning."

It was the third career pole for Burton and first since the fall 2000 race in Richmond, when he was driving for Roush Racing.

His fast lap of 189.151 mph on a windy, chilly day at Daytona International Speedway was the fastest qualifying run at Daytona since Dale Jarrett's 191.091 in February 2000.