CONCORD, N.C. – Sunday, the front row of the Daytona 500 will be set.
Qualifying takes place at 12:15 p.m. ET at Daytona International Speedway, and it will be broadcast on FOX.
The two-round, single-car format will determine the pole winner and the outside pole sitter, and several stats stand out for Hendrick Motorsports before qualifying gets underway.
- Hendrick Motorsports holds the all-time record for most Daytona 500 pole positions with 11. Richard Childress Racing is second with six poles, followed by Ranier Racing and Yates Racing with five.
- Last season's Daytona 500 featured a pair of Hendrick Motorsports teammates on the front row to start the event – Chase Elliott first and Dale Earnhardt Jr. second. It marked the fifth time Hendrick Motorsports has earned the top two starting spots in the Daytona 500, which happened for the first time in 1989 with Ken Schrader and Darrell Waltrip starting first and second, respectively. Mark Martin, Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson went off one-two-three in 2010, and Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon started one-two in 2011. In the 2015 Daytona 500, three Hendrick Motorsports teammates once again started at the front of the pack – Gordon first, Johnson second and Earnhardt third.
- Elliott could become just the fourth driver in history to win three straight Daytona 500 poles. The 22-year-old has earned back-to-back Daytona 500 pole awards – first as a rookie in 2016 and again in his 2017 sophomore season. No other driver under the age of 23 has won a single pole position for the Daytona 500.
- Also, if Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team win the 2018 Daytona 500 pole position, crew chief Alan Gustafson would become the first crew chief in NASCAR history to win four consecutive Daytona 500 pole awards. Gustafson earned the Daytona 500 pole with Gordon in 2015 and with Elliott in 2016 and 2017. Among crew chiefs to have won three straight poles for “The Great American Race,” Gustafson is tied with Waddell Wilson and Ernie Elliott, who accomplished the feat with Elliott’s father Bill from 1985-87.
- Meanwhile, a 2018 Daytona 500 pole position for William Byron would be the fourth consecutive for the No. 24 car number, tying a record held by the No. 28 of Ranier Racing. From 1979-1982, the No. 28 Ranier team won the Daytona 500 pole award with three different drivers: Buddy Baker, Bobby Allison and Benny Parsons. Baker won the race from the pole in 1980. The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team won the Daytona 500 pole with Gordon in 2015 and Elliott in 2016 and 2017.
- A Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has won the pole in six of the last 10 Daytona 500 races, including the last three.