CONCORD, N.C. – Kyle Larson won the pole for the 64th running of the DAYTONA 500.
Larson extended Hendrick Motorsports’ DAYTONA 500 pole record to 15 and became the ninth different driver in the organization to secure the top starting spot for the “Great American Race.” Hendrick Motorsports has now won 10 of the last 15 DAYTONA 500 poles.
“It’s really neat,” Larson said after capturing his first career DAYTONA 500 pole. “Just a huge thank you to the engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports. Everybody who’s had a part in touching these vehicles, whether it be on the computer, engineering, or just hands on. It’s really neat, just awesome the speed in our HendrickCars.com Chevy. Hopefully this is the beginning of a really good weekend.”
The reigning champ is joined on the front row by teammate Alex Bowman who posted the second-fastest lap in single-car qualifying and will start on the front row for the DAYTONA 500 a fifth straight year.
“It just says so much about Hendrick Motorsports and all these guys,” said Bowman. “Congrats to the No. 5 on getting the pole. It’s cool to have the record, but I feel like Greg Ives (crew chief) and my race team should be the ones that get the credit for that record. The driver doesn’t really have much to do with it, but glad I didn’t mess it up for them and really happy for Ally and Chevrolet. Cool to be a part of it.”
The Larson-Byron duo gave Hendrick Motorsports its eighth DAYTONA 500 front-row sweep and Chevrolet’s 20th in NASCAR Cup Series history.
William Byron ranked third fastest in Wednesday’s time trials session with Chase Elliott rounding out the top-five qualifiers in fifth.
Though the teammates qualified first, second, third and fifth, only Larson and Bowman’s positions are set for Sunday’s race. The rest of the starting grid, including Byron and Elliott’s spots, will be determined through Thursday’s Duel at DAYTONA qualifying races, which are set to begin at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on FS1.
Take a look at the official results from Wednesday night’s DAYTONA 500 qualifying session below.
1 Kyle Larson
2 Alex Bowman
3 William Byron
4 Aric Almirola
5 Chase Elliott
6 Martin Truex Jr.
7 Ross Chastain
8 Denny Hamlin
9 Daniel Suarez
10 Harrison Burton
11 Daniel Hemric
12 Joey Logano
13 Ryan Blaney
14 Christopher Bell
15 Tyler Reddick
16 Bubba Wallace
17 Brad Keselowski
18 Kyle Busch
19 Chase Briscoe
20 Austin Dillon
21 Austin Cindric
22 Michael McDowell
23 Erik Jones
24 Ty Dillon
25 Kurt Busch
26 Kevin Harvick
27 Justin Haley
28 Chris Buescher
29 Cole Custer
30 Corey LaJoie
31 Todd Gilliland
32 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
33 Noah Gragson
34 Landon Cassill
35 Cody Ware
36 Jacques Villeneuve
37 Kaz Grala
38 Greg Biffle
39 BJ McLeod
40 David Ragan
41 JJ Yeley
42 Timmy Hill