August 23, 2024 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Michael McDowell on pole at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Former Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell captured the pole position for Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – his fourth career pole, but first at the sport’s iconic track.

It will be an all Front Row Motorsports front row thanks to McDowell’s qualifying lap of 183.165 mph around the 2.5-mile high banks in the No. 34 FRM Ford during Friday evening’s Busch Light Pole Qualifying session. His teammate Todd Gilliland will start beside him in the No. 38 FRM Ford – the two actually posting the exact same time in the first round of qualifying.

Ford Motor Company swept the top-six positions in time trials and had seven cars in the top 10 on the Daytona speed chart.

“Qualifying has never been a strength at superspeedways for us [as a team] but racing has,’’ McDowell said with a smile. “We just decided, okay, we are going to take as much time as we possibly have available to execute everything we can to the best of our ability.’’

“We just proved to ourselves with a lot of extra time put in, it has paid off,’’ he said of the team’s emphasis on improving qualifying at the big tracks such as Daytona.

Joey Logano, the 2015 Daytona 500 winner, will start third in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, followed by Ryan Preece in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford and teammates Josh Berry in the No. 4 SHR Ford and Chase Briscoe in the No. 14 SHR Ford.

This year’s Daytona 500 winner William Byron was seventh fastest in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, with Team Penske’s Austin Cindric – the 2022 Daytona 500 winner – starting from the eighth position. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.

The starting positions are key for Front Row Motorsports who is still trying to qualify for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and will need a race win to jump into the 16-driver Playoff field with only two races remaining to settle the championship eligibility.

“When it comes to tomorrow night, we’ll do what we always do. We’re going to race and help ourselves get to the front and stay in the front and be in good position,’’ McDowell said, adding. “The best thing we can do for our team and ourselves is work together because we have fast cars.”

Defending race winner, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher holds a 16-point advantage in 15th place and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain takes a mere one point lead into Saturday night’s race. They will start 13th and 24th, respectively. 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, who sits just behind Chastain a single point back, will start 18th.


NOTES. …

*Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin addressed the media for the first time since he and his team received a massive penalty Thursday after NASCAR ruled his Bristol, Tenn. race-winning engine was not subsequently properly handled according to regulations.

The penalty included the loss of 75 driver and owner championship points – which drops Hamlin from third place in the standings to sixth place, 103 points behind leader, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick. Hamlin also lost 10 Playoff points and the team suffered a $100,000 fine.

“Each race-winning engine must be inspected by NASCAR once the race team determines that its life cycle is complete,’’ NASCAR shared in its ruling. “In this instance, prior to presenting the engine to NASCAR for inspection, Toyota Racing Development disassembled and rebuilt the No. 11’s Bristol-winning race engine. Per the NASCAR Rule Book, this violation results in an L2 penalty to the race team and driver. Toyota Racing Development self-reported this violation.”

Toyota Racing Development (TRD) USA came forward and shared with NASCAR that it had “mishandled” the engine by re-building it before presenting it to NASCAR.

“As the engine builder for our partner NASCAR Cup Series teams, TRD is solely responsible for the handling and disposition of all our engines pre- and post-race,’’ said TRD President David Wilson. “Despite procedures being in place, Denny’s race winning engine from Bristol was mistakenly returned to our Costa Mesa facility, disassembled and rebuilt instead of being torn down and inspected by NASCAR per the rulebook.

“Although we know with absolute certainty that the engine was legal and would have passed inspection, we left NASCAR in an impossible position because they were not given the opportunity to properly inspect our engine.

Even though TRD has accepted blame for the situation, Hamlin allowed that it was a big competitive punch to him. Two days ago, he was fighting for the regular season championship and now with the penalty, he’s contending for a top-five finish in the standings during a season that includes three victories.

“You know you celebrate these one-point stage victories and race victories so much because you know every round, I’ve got that,’’ Hamlin said of the stiff penalty. “We were in contention for the regular season (championship), that’s gone.”

“… that’s the gut-punch that this format rewards regular season excellence but it allows you not to have a perfect day and still race for the championship and now I’m kind of back there in the middle.’’

*Chris Buescher comes into Saturday’s race as the defending winner and holds a slim, but all-important 16-point advantage in the Playoff standings. However, he knows in these big-track, drafting races that Daytona delivers, there is only so much in your control.

“When we come to these races, we know that,’’ said Buescher, driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford. “We can only control what we can in our very small circle and the rest of it will go as it may. Unfortunately, that’s just part of the game at these places.’’

Asked if he expected help from other Fords as he is the only Ford Mustang driver among the three competitors most fiercely competing for the final two playoff positions, Buescher conceded maybe there would be a push or some version of help mid-race, but he did not expect a fellow Ford to push him to a win, necessarily.

“I don’t know if it’s an expectation, it’s more of an ask if given an opportunity to help out a manufacturer car versus a competitor,’’ Buescher said. “I think the ask would be there to try and have that scenario in your mind from some of our teammates across the board on the Ford camp, but, no. I certainly don’t think you can expect it from others.

“We’re all competitors. We obviously have a very singular goal in mind, all of us for the same thing, and you’re not gonna get there if you’re helping out those that you’re gonna have to compete with at the end of the day. Again, it’s kind of just a small favor, if possible.’’

*Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs goes into Saturday night’s race ranked 14th, 39-points atop the Playoff cutoff line. And while he’s not completely “comfortable” with the buffer, he said it does change their strategy somewhat for this race.

Earning stage points becomes more a priority to collect and a good solid finish versus a big gamble move for victory is something to consider.

“We’re looking at the big picture, it’s really hard to win one of these,’’ Gibbs said. “And I think at the end of the day, it’s down to the luck of the draw what position you are in and where you’re at.

“I think you have to play it safe, but it’s a hard one because you really just don’t know what’s going to happen.’’

*A two-time winner at Daytona International Speedway, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. maintains he’s not any more cautious coming to the superspeedway high banks than anywhere else the NASCAR Cup Series races.

“I don’t get nervous, I feel like excited is the way I go into it,’’ Stenhouse said of his vibe coming to Daytona, where he hoisted his first career trophy in 2017’s 400-miler and then answered it with the 2023 Daytona 500.

The JTG Daugherty Racing driver enters the race ranked 25th, more than 200 points out of the championship eligibility and needing a victory Saturday night to advance to this year’s Playoffs. He concedes a win is the only way in at this point, but doesn’t necessarily expect the racing style Saturday night will be any more aggressive than it normally is.

“I think you look at speedway racing a little bit differently. I mean we’re all beating, banging and pushing each other and I would say 98 percent of the time there’s a wreck on the last lap,’’ Stenhouse said, adding, “I don’t think anybody really knows exactly what moves they’ll make until they’re put in those positions. And then you make them and figure it out after that.

“I definitely just hope we have a shot at it; put ourselves in that position to be able to make a move, one way or the other, and try to win the race.”

*NASCAR issued a modification to cars following an accident last week at Michigan that saw Corey LaJoie’s No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet flip and launch into
the air. LaJoie was uninjured, but the sanctioning body announced the adjustment on Wednesday.

“NASCAR will be mandating a new Right Side Rear Window Air Deflector beginning at Daytona,” NASCAR said in a statement. “This component increases the liftoff speed of the car in the early part of the spin, and the parts have been wind tunnel tested and quantified.

“The ‘fin’ matches what is currently run on the left side rear window and will be supplied to teams by NASCAR.”

“I think it’s good they looked at it and made a quick change and were proactive about it, that’s always a good thing,’’ Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron said of NASCAR’s response.

*Daniel Suárez said he believes his friend, reigning Formula One world champion Max Verstappen would be open to racing in NASCAR – sometime down the road. Verstappen, who leads the F1 standings en route to what would be a third consecutive title, is the longtime partner of Kelly Piquet –  the sister of Suárez’s wife Julia.

“He likes to explore different things and I’ve talked to him about NASCAR,’’ Suárez said, noting that his own Trackhouse Racing team maintains a “Project 91” entry in various NASCAR Cup Series races for drivers from other motorsports genres wanting to venturing into a different genre.

“Why not, he’s like any other good driver. … if he ever gets the opportunity to do it, he wants to do it right,’ Suárez said.

*Martin Truex Jr. said Friday that he expects to be entered in the 2025 Daytona 500, but would not say for what team that would be. Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing has said he would field a car for Truex, but there has not been any sort of official announcement.

*Kaulig Racing announced Friday that Daniel Dye will drive the team’s No. 10 Chevrolet fulltime in the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series. The Daytona Beach-native Dye, 20, begins competing in his first career NASCAR championship run on Sunday, qualifying for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs.



Starting Line Up by Row
Daytona International Speedway
Coke Zero Sugar 400

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 8/23/2024 @ 07:09 PM Eastern

Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Bill Elliott  02/08/87 00:15:10 197.802

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 34 Michael McDowell Long John Silver's Ford 49.136 183.165
2 38 Todd Gilliland Grillo's Pickles Ford 49.234 182.801

Row 2: 3 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 49.358 182.341
4 41 Ryan Preece TRUEWERK Ford 49.366 182.312

Row 3: 5 4 Josh Berry # eero Ford 49.397 182.197
6 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford 49.398 182.194

Row 4: 7 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 49.435 182.057
8 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Tarkett Ford 49.451 181.998

Row 5: 9 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 49.478 181.899
10 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 49.518 181.752

Row 6: 11 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 49.556 181.613
12 6 Brad Keselowski King's Hawaiian Ford 49.575 181.543

Row 7: 13 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford 49.584 181.510
14 12 Ryan Blaney Advance Auto Parts Ford 49.587 181.499

Row 8: 15 10 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 49.612 181.408
16 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 49.614 181.400

Row 9: 17 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 49.677 181.170
18 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota 49.690 181.123

Row 10: 19 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Cares Toyota 49.722 181.006
20 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 49.724 180.999

Row 11: 21 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 49.741 180.937
22 99 Daniel Suarez Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Chevrolet 49.767 180.843

Row 12: 23 33 Austin Hill(i) United Rentals Chevrolet 49.769 180.835
24 1 Ross Chastain Worldwide Express Chevrolet 49.772 180.825

Row 13: 25 45 Tyler Reddick MoneyLion Toyota 49.774 180.817
26 54 Ty Gibbs REAGAN The Movie Toyota 49.792 180.752

Row 14: 27 20 Christopher Bell Interstate Batteries Toyota 49.794 180.745
28 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 49.820 180.650

Row 15: 29 62 Parker Retzlaff(i) Funkaway Chevrolet 49.821 180.647
30 71 Zane Smith # Ambetter Health Chevrolet 49.844 180.563

Row 16: 31 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 49.847 180.552
32 16 Shane Van Gisbergen(i) Safety Culture Chevrolet 49.882 180.426

Row 17: 33 15 Cody Ware Jacob Construction/Parts Plus Ford 49.924 180.274
34 7 Corey LaJoie Celsius Chevrolet 49.927 180.263

Row 18: 35 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/BIGGIE Muffins/Capri Sun Chevrolet 50.057 179.795
36 51 Justin Haley Beef a Roo Ford 50.065 179.766

Row 19: 37 77 Carson Hocevar # Premier Security Chevrolet 50.079 179.716
38 78 BJ McLeod(i) Power Slap Chevrolet 50.721 177.441

Row 20: 39 44 Joey Gase(i) NFPA Chevrolet 51.395 175.114
40 43 Erik Jones Famiy Dollar Toyota 0.000 0.000

Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 18 0 Ford 14 0
Toyota 8 0

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series