February 15, 2023 | By Lee Spencer

Alex Bowman wins his third Daytona 500 pole for Hendrick Motorsports

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Just hours after Hendrick Motorsports announced the extension of Alex Bowman’s contract, the driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet posted the fastest lap in qualifying for his third Daytona 500 pole.

Bowman broke the record for a sixth consecutive front-row start with a lap of 181.686 mph—his third Daytona 500 pole.

For the eighth of the last nine Daytona 500s, a Hendrick Chevrolet has started from the pole for the Great American Race.

Kyle Larson, who posted a lap of 181.057mph and will start alongside his teammate, was one of the first to congratulate Bowman.

“It wasn't like, ‘Congratulations, you got the pole,’ it was like, “Ha ha, you’ve got five hours of media tomorrow,’” Bowman quipped of his friend. “So not really you know supportive teammate over there, kind of rubbing it in. But I did the same thing to him last year, so just really cool to be a part of it.

“All I did was floor it, but obviously our Ally 48 Camaro is really fast.”

Hendrick picked up the top three positions in qualifying with William Byron posting the third-fastest time (180.727mph). Aric Almirola qualified fourth followed by defending Cup champion Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, defending Daytona 500 champion Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton.

Kyle Busch, who was disqualified for going below the yellow line during his qualifying lap, rolls off fifth in the second duel on Thursday. The top Toyota in time trials, Bubba Wallace, was 11th quick.

Of the six unchartered cars, Jimmie Johnson and Travis Pastrana were the only two drivers to qualify on speed. Johnson was 23rd of the 41 cars making a lap.

“It feels great, just a massive thank you to everybody at Legacy Motor Club,” Johnson said after his lap.

Pastrana was thrilled simply picking up his NASCAR license on Wednesday. Qualifying for the Daytona 500 was the cherry on top.

“I got my hard card today,” said Pastrana, who was 25th on the speed chart. “It said, ‘Cup Driver.’ I couldn’t believe it…Qualifying for the Daytona 500 is definitely a dream come true.”

Zane Smith, Chandler Smith, Connor Daly and Austin Hill will have to attempt to race their way into the 500 on Thursday.

For Bowman, who some pundits predicted was on the hot seat at Hendrick prior to Wednesday’s contract announcement, quieted his critics and served a hot dish of crow by delivering a third Daytona 500 pole.

“It means a lot obviously to have Mr. Hendrick and Ally have that much faith in me for that long,” Bowman said. “It’s really special. So, glad it’s signed and done before the season started and we can get that out of the way and just focus on going and winning races.

“The constant questions about it every week definitely are not my favorite thing, so glad to have it done and over with and excited for what the future holds.”

Since joining Hendrick Motorsports full-time in 2018, Bowman has 10 starts at Daytona. His best result was 7th in the summer race, 11th in the Daytona 500 in 2019. What does Bowman have to do post a solid finish in the 500?

“If I knew the answer to that question we would have finished already,” Bowman said.  “So I’m going to do my best to make it happen and hopefully we can. It’s been tough. We’ve had a lot of really fast race cars down here and hopefully, we can put ourselves in a better position to finish the job on Sunday.

“Some guys have been able to figure out how to be really good at speedway racing and consistently be there at the end, so obviously there is something to it. Just have to figure that out on my end as well.”