Daytona Beach, Fla. ? Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t get the chance to give his Winston Cup competitors another reason to consider him the favorite in the Daytona 500.

Rain forced the postponement of Sunday’s pole qualifying for the Feb. 16 race one day.

NASCAR also said second-round time trials, originally set for today, would not be held. The lineups for Thursday’s Twin 125-mile qualifying races also will be determined today.

Earnhardt Jr., coming off an impressive victory Saturday night in the non-points Budweiser Shootout — the first NASCAR event of the season — is likely to be the favorite any time his powerful red No. 8 Chevrolet takes to the Daytona International Speedway oval in the coming week.

That would have delighted his late father, who loved to psyche out other drivers and was known as The Intimidator. For Little E, being “The Man” is a little embarrassing.

“I don’t think that is really my style,” Earnhardt Jr. said after powering past four-time series champion Jeff Gordon and leading the last five laps of the Shootout. “I don’t like being the favorite. I like being the surprise.

“I think it’s a whole lot more fun when you really come out and surprise people, because that is what I’ve been used to all my life.”

Earnhardt Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammate Michael Waltrip have won six of the last eight races at Daytona and Talladega — NASCAR’s biggest and fastest tracks — but Waltrip has the only Daytona 500 win between them.

That victory came two years ago in the race in which seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt was killed. Waltrip is considered one of a handful of drivers with a legitimate shot at winning the pole.

“I was reflecting the other morning … I sat on the pole 20 years ago for the Dash Series race,” Waltrip said, “so this could be the longest drought between poles by any driver in the history of the sport at a particular track.”

It took Earnhardt Sr. 20 years to win the Daytona 500, although he won plenty here, taking the checkered flag in a record 34 different Daytona events.