August 25, 2023 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Chase Briscoe wins pole for regular season finale at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —  Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe claimed the Busch Light pole position in Friday evening’s qualifying session for Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale (7 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Peacock, NBC Sports App) at Daytona International Speedway.

Briscoe’s No. 14 SHR Ford just edged 2014 Daytona summer race winner and SHR teammate Aric Almirola in the final qualifying run of the afternoon with a lap of 181.822 mph around the 2.5-mile Daytona high banks – a difference of less than two-tenths of a second between the two. It’s Briscoe’s first pole position of the season and second in his three-year tenure in NASCAR’s premier series.

It certainly comes at a crucial time in the season, with one position still to be settled for the 16-driver playoff field that begins its 10-race run to crown a NASCAR Cup Series champion next week at Darlington Raceway. The outside pole position equaled the Florida native Almirola’s best qualifying effort of the season – which came this spring at the other superspeedway in Talladega, Ala.

“It’s exciting,” Briscoe said. “To be able to win the pole at Daytona is special no matter what car you’re driving. To be able to say I’m leading the field to green in a Cup race at Daytona is a pretty cool thing to be able to say. It’s a testament, honestly, to everybody at Stewart-Haas. It’s no secret, it’s been a rough season for us, and to have all four cars in the top 10 and to lock out the front row is super important for us and a turning point, and hopefully, one of us can win tomorrow.

“You can start on the pole and be 30th by lap 20, there are so many variables,” Briscoe conceded. “But I will say with this new car, track position is more crucial than ever before.

“Being on the pole,” he added, “you have a great opportunity from the standpoint of starting position, but you just have to go execute … and that’s what we have to focus on.”

Wood Brothers Racing’s Harrison Burton, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10 – four of the five drivers at the head of the grid needing a victory Saturday night to move into playoff contention.

Without a new season winner, Wallace could potentially point his way into the title chase. He currently holds a 32-point advantage on the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Gibbs. Of course, a win is his ticket through, too.

Equally as compelling a story as those that qualified well were the handful of playoff hopefuls who will have to start deeper in the field.

Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suárez, who is 17th in the standings – just behind Gibbs – qualified 22nd. And seven-time NASCAR Cup Series Most Popular Driver Chase Elliott will roll off 23rd in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Elliott is currently ranked 19th in the playoff standings – a healthy 101 points back after missing seven races due to a combination of injury and a one-week suspension from NASCAR.

“I still don’t think it matters a whole lot,” Elliott said of qualifying at Daytona. “I do think track position matters at some point during the day, and we saw that in the [Daytona] 500 here. I crashed there early on, but the part of the race I was in, I felt like everybody was stuck. We couldn’t go anywhere. I was looking around, and there were times during the race I was like, he’s trying to go forward and can’t.

“I think the more the cars are the same as time has gone on, it’s hard to be different. … then it puts all the emphasis on the little stuff. How fast are your pit stops? How much gas you got in it? How good’s your restart? All the itty-bitty little things become much larger pieces of the puzzle when the cars are just more and more the same, especially when you’re running around here wide open.”

“There’s still a little bit of a difference,” he added. “Whether it’s the driver, the car or a combination of both, I still think a guy can make himself stand out.”

Ford dominated the qualifying session, with seven cars among the 10 that advanced to the final round. NASCAR Xfinity Series’ regular Riley Herbst qualified sixth fastest in the No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford. Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was seventh fastest, followed by the Fords of Penske Racing’s Ryan Blaney and the SHR teammates Ryan Preece and Kevin Harvick.

Among the grid’s top 10, only Larson and Blaney have victories. Harvick is the only other driver among that group to have secured his playoff bid – pointing his way in. The retiring driver of the No. 4 SHR Ford still hasn’t scored a win in his farewell season.

“It would definitely shake up the playoff field for sure, and everybody loves an underdog,” Briscoe said of possibly winning from pole Saturday night.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin qualified their Toyotas 13th and 19th, respectively. Truex leads Hamlin by 39 points in a duel for the regular-season championship, which gives the champ a 15-point bonus for the playoff.

Defending Coke Zero 400 race winner — Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon — will start 21st.

Starting Line Up by Row
Daytona International Speedway

Coke Zero Sugar 400

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Friday, 8/25/2023 @ 06:35 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 14 Chase Briscoe Magical Vacation Planner Ford 49.499 181.822
2 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 49.534 181.693

Row 2: 3 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 49.613 181.404
4 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota 49.639 181.309

Row 3: 5 54 Ty Gibbs # Monster Energy Toyota 49.642 181.298
6 36 Riley Herbst(i) Monster Energy Zero Sugar Ford 49.648 181.276

Row 4: 7 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 49.654 181.254
8 12 Ryan Blaney Advance Auto Parts Ford 49.709 181.054

Row 5: 9 41 Ryan Preece RaceChoice.com Ford 49.741 180.937
10 4 Kevin Harvick GEARWRENCH Ford 49.772 180.825

Row 6: 11 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford 49.852 180.534
12 6 Brad Keselowski King's Hawaiian Ford 49.876 180.448

Row 7: 13 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pros Shops/Ducks Unlimited Toyota 49.892 180.390
14 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 49.922 180.281

Row 8: 15 20 Christopher Bell Yahoo! Toyota 49.928 180.260
16 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford 49.943 180.205

Row 9: 17 16 AJ Allmendinger Action Industries Chevrolet 49.951 180.177
18 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 49.953 180.169

Row 10: 19 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Cares Toyota 49.962 180.137
20 45 Tyler Reddick The Beast Unleashed Toyota 49.987 180.047

Row 11: 21 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 50.053 179.809
22 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway.com Chevrolet 50.055 179.802

Row 12: 23 9 Chase Elliott LLumar Chevrolet 50.079 179.716
24 43 Erik Jones Allegiant Chevrolet 50.102 179.634

Row 13: 25 1 Ross Chastain Worldwide Express Chevrolet 50.108 179.612
26 62 Austin Hill(i) United Rentals/Beard Oil Chevrolet 50.206 179.261

Row 14: 27 24 William Byron RaptorTough.com Chevrolet 50.231 179.172
28 31 Justin Haley Celsius Chevrolet 50.253 179.094

Row 15: 29 42 Josh Berry(i) Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet 50.272 179.026
30 77 Ty Dillon Gainbridge Chevrolet 50.320 178.855

Row 16: 31 48 Alex Bowman Ally Arena Chevrolet 50.355 178.731
32 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Boost by Kroger/Entenmann's Chevrolet 50.382 178.635

Row 17: 33 51 JJ Yeley(i) Biohaven/Jacob Co. Ford 50.411 178.532
34 15 Brennan Poole(i) Finance Pro Plus Ford 50.415 178.518

Row 18: 35 38 Todd Gilliland Boot Barn Ford 50.421 178.497
36 13 Chandler Smith(i) Quick Tie Products Inc. Chevrolet 50.432 178.458

Row 19: 37 7 Corey LaJoie NEGU Chevrolet 50.474 178.310
38 78 BJ McLeod B'laster Chevrolet 50.597 177.876

Row 20: 39 34 Michael McDowell Fr8Auctions Ford 50.712 177.473