Daytona 500 front row: Matt Kenseth (2nd) and Chase Elliott (1st). [Russ Lake Photo]
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Rookie Chase Elliott and veteran driver Matt Kenseth came home the big winners in front-row qualifying for next Sunday’s Daytona 500.
Driving the NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, Elliott cruised around the 2.5-mile banked Daytona International Speedway oval at a speed of 196.314 miles per hour, becoming the youngest driver to do so at 20 years, 2 months and 17 days. (Austin Dillon had the record at 23 years, 9 months and 27 days.
Bill Elliott, Chase’s father, had four Daytona 500 poles, and the father-son duo joins three other father’s and son’s to win the coveted pole; namely, Bobby and Davey Allison, Richard and Kyle Petty and Dale and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
For the No. 24 car, this is the third Daytona 500 pole for the Hendrick Motor Sports team with Jeff Gordon scoring twice in 1999 and 2015. Chevrolet leads the way with 24 poles at Daytona.
“This is a very cool day,” Elliott said. “This opportunity has sunken in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500. The big thing is the team as Daytona 500 qualifying is about the team guys and all the effort they put into these cars. This is very special and a great way to start the season. Opportunities like this don’t come twice, and this one is very special. I feel honored and blessed.
“For me, I didn’t want to mess up and I knew Alan Gustafson had a lot of confidence in the car and thought we had a shot at the pole. I wanted to do my job and hit my marks, but I did have some nerves. Now, I just want to let this sink in.”
On television, Elliott said learning the draft will be a challenge, and he hopes to learn more through the upcoming Can-Am Duel.
In the Dollar General Toyota, Kenseth was a tick of the clock slower at 196.036 mph, to gain a front-row Daytona 500 start for the first time.
“This is a team effort, but this time I was nervous, as I didn’t want to mess up my lap if we wanted to be on the front row. It is funny how these things work. I thought (Dale Earnhardt) Jr. was going to beat me because he was so fast in first round. I was thinking about all this hard work, ending up third, we might just as well be 20th, so I was pleasantly surprised when he dropped in behind us. I’ve never qualified for the front row here, so this takes off some pressure for later in week.”
Today’s qualifications only set the front row with the remainder of the 38-car field determined through Thursday’s two qualifying races. Under the new system, the 36 Charter members have guaranteed starting positions, leaving eight non-Charter teams competing for the final four positions. Two of these spots will be based on performance in the qualifying races and the other two are given to the two fastest cars in qualifications.
Group qualifying was abandoned this year with two rounds of single-car qualifying as the replacement. In round one, each driver was given one lap to do their best and the top-12 advanced to round two to determine the coveted front-row starting positions.
Earnhardt ended up third with Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch fourth followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jimmy Johnson, Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch and Joey Logano, the drivers rounding out the top-12 qualifiers.
Based on speed, Blaney and Matt DiBenedetto were the two non-Charter teams gaining Daytona 500 starting spots.
On pit road prior to qualifying, officials took exception to a roof flap on the Martin Truex Jr. car and when the crew couldn’t fix it within the allotted five-minute timeframe, the car was not allowed to qualify and the team will start last in their qualifying race.
During post-race inspections, the track bars on the cars of Kevin Harvick and Brian Vickers were not in compliance, and their times were disallowed. They, too, will be relegated to the rear of the field in their respective qualifying races.
The next on-track action will take place with Sprint Cup Series practice late on Wednesday afternoon.