Kyle Busch on Daytona 500 pole
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Kyle Busch delivered the best Daytona 500 qualifying effort of his championship NASCAR career Wednesday night at Daytona International Speedway, claiming his first ever pole position for the Great American Race (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Busch’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was quickest in first round qualifying and answered the work resoundingly with an even faster lap (183.651 mph) in the 10-car final round – besting Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe by only .064-mph to set the front row.
Busch, 40, and Briscoe, 31 – the 2025 Daytona 500 polesitter – locked into the 41-car field along with 23XI Racing’s Corey Heim and JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, who claimed the two open positions up for grabs Wednesday. The remainder of the field will be settled in Thursday night’s America 250 Florida Duel at Daytona races (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with the 500 starting positions based on the Duels’ finishing order.
This will mark Busch’s 21st start in the Daytona 500 – and no previous driver has won the race with more than 20 starts. The late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt scored his only DAYTONA 500 victory in his 20th start for Busch’s team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Childress.
“Certainly, here on a Wednesday night, being able to qualify on my first pole for the Daytona 500, that’s pretty special.,’’ said a grinning Busch. “I’ve had one other speedway pole down here in Daytona for the summer race. This feels good. Feels really good for RCR as a group.
“Just a valiant effort by everybody here,’’ the two-time series champion added. “It would be really nice to be doing an interview like this about being No. 1 come Sunday night.”
Briscoe was obviously encouraged by his showing as well, noting with a laugh that more typically it’s the Hendrick Motorsports team that has dominated Daytona 500 front row qualifying in recent years.
“It’s cool for sure to be able to consistently two years in a row now,’’ said Briscoe, who drives the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “It’s really a testament to the folks back at JGR. We’ve made so many improvements on our superspeedway program. This race really comes down to, at least in qualifying, attention to detail, just doing every little thing.
“The 19 group has consistently kind of been the best one. That’s really exciting for us. Just a lot of pride in that, right? I know for me, every week when I get in the car, I know I’m in arguably the best car every single week. When we come here and do stuff like we’ve done two years in a row validates that.
“It’s the kid in me. .. being in the front row, for two years in a row at the Daytona 500. It’s a really big deal.’’
It was certainly a thrilling start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series points season, the qualifying session featured a great battle among all three series manufacturers – with four Chevrolets, three Fords and three Toyotas making up the final round. Nine of the 10 cars that advanced bettered the pole speed from a year ago.
Last week’s Clash preseason-opening race winner Ryan Preece was third fastest in the No. 60 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford with three-time Daytona 500 winner, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin fourth quickest followed by Heim, the only one of eight “open” cars to make the 10-car final round.
“Just kind of nerve-wracking for sure to say the least,’’ the 2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Heim conceded of earning his first ever Daytona 500 start in the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota.
“But as soon as we knew all cars would be out in the second round except for us, that’s kind of the final solidifying factor. I thought for a minute, three of us were going to be in the final round and we were going to have to race it out.
“So impressed and thank you for 23XI Racing and Toyota coming here with an open car and a fourth team at 23XI. To be able to do that is pretty impressive even from my eyes. I feel like that’s a very big accomplishment from those guys. Just blessed to be a part of the team.”
The veteran Allgaier – the 2024 champion and a current fulltime competitor in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series – is making his second consecutive start in the No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, owned by two-time DAYTONA 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller. Allgaier’s qualifying time bettered the open car driven by Corey LaJoie by only a slight .004-second to claim that second guaranteed entry.
“I thought there would be less stress but I felt like for me, the stress level actually went up compared to last year with what we are able to accomplish,’’ said Allgaier, who finished ninth last year in the team’s inaugural DAYTONA start.
“You feel like you’ll come back in a lot better capacity and we did, that was a great qualifying effort, just short of the top-10,’’ he said of the car’s 14th place showing Wednesday night among the 45 car field.
“I think last year we made it so exciting on Thursday, it was really cool and it was special,’’ Allgaier said of having to race for a position in the 2025 DAYTONA 500 in the Duels. “But I feel like this year, I can go through the Duels and work on the car in a far different capacity and allows us to go to the 500 and really feel like we’re competing for a win and competing for a great position. It’s just different and I’m really proud of this team.’’
His grinning team owner Earnhardt conceded, “It is stressful but that’s the best part about it.”
Of note, Front Row Motorsports driver Noah Gragson had his qualifying lap disallowed after he used his hand to affect airflow, violating a new NASCAR rule that took effect this year. He’ll start last in his Duel race.
“I completely forgot about that rule,’’ Gragson said, “That one’s on me.’’
THIRSDAY DIEL 1 LINEUP
Starting Line Up by Row
Daytona International Speedway
America 250 Florida Duel at DAYTONA
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Wednesday, 2/11/2026 @ 10:54 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 8 Kyle Busch zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
2 60 Ryan Preece Kroger/Viva Towels Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 2: 3 67 Corey Heim(i) Robinhood Toyota 0.000 0.000
4 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 3: 5 17 Chris Buescher Body Guard Ford 0.000 0.000
6 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 4: 7 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
8 99 Corey LaJoie Trimble Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 5: 9 42 John Hunter Nemechek Dollar Tree Toyota 0.000 0.000
10 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 6: 11 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Peak Ford 0.000 0.000
12 24 William Byron Raptor Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 7: 13 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
14 51 Cody Ware Jacob Construction Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 8: 15 84 Jimmie Johnson Carvana Toyota 0.000 0.000
16 23 Bubba Wallace Xfinity Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 9: 17 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
18 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 10: 19 97 Shane Van Gisbergen SuperFile Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
20 7 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 11: 21 36 Chandler Smith(i) Quick Tie/Matheus Lumber Ford 0.000 0.000
22 66 Casey Mears SI Yachts/Gracie Foundation Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 12: 23 4 Noah Gragson Rush Truck Centers Ford 0.000 0.000
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 10 0 Ford 9 0
Toyota 4 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
THURSDAY DIEL 2 LINEUP
Starting Line Up by Row
Daytona International Speedway
America 250 Florida Duel at DAYTONA
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Wednesday, 2/11/2026 @ 10:57 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 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 0.000 0.000
2 11 Denny Hamlin National Debt Relief Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 2: 3 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
4 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 3: 5 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 0.000 0.000
6 20 Christopher Bell DEWALT/Interstate Batteries Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 4: 7 40 Justin Allgaier(i) Traveller Whiskey Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
8 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 5: 9 38 Zane Smith Speedy Cash Ford 0.000 0.000
10 71 Michael McDowell Modo Casino Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 6: 11 88 Connor Zilisch # Red Bull Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
12 43 Erik Jones AdventHealth Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 7: 13 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 0.000 0.000
14 77 Carson Hocevar Spectrum Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 8: 15 35 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota 0.000 0.000
16 34 Todd Gilliland Love's Travel Stops Ford 0.000 0.000
Row 9: 17 62 Anthony Alfredo(i) Dude Wipes Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
18 10 Ty Dillon Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Row 10: 19 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chef Boyardee Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
20 45 Tyler Reddick Chumba Casino Toyota 0.000 0.000
Row 11: 21 78 BJ McLeod Superior Logistics Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
22 44 JJ Yeley(i) Built To Work/Barnett Southern Chevrolet 0.000 0.000
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 11 0 Toyota 7 0
Ford 4 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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