Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliot claimed a historic pole for the Daytona 500, becoming the youngest driver to win pole for the race at his first attempt.
After the controversy of last year’s Formula 1-style group knockout sessions, the traditional one-at-a-time Daytona 500 qualifying format returned for 2016, broken up into two phases, with the fastest 12 drivers in the opening round progressing into a final shootout.
The 20-year-old Elliott, making his first Daytona start in the #24 entry previously raced by Jeff Gordon, lapped third-fastest in the opening stage of qualifying, before beating Matt Kenseth to pole with a lap of 45.845s.
Only the front row is locked out for Sunday’s 500, with the rest of the grid order to be decided by Thursday’s Duel qualifying races.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was quickest in round one, but he could manage just third on his second run, ahead of reigning Cup champion Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Six-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was sixth, with Ryan Blaney booking his place in the 500 with seventh for the Wood Brothers Racing squad – the quickest driver from the non-chartered teams.
Austin Dillon, Carl Edwards, Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited exhibition winner Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch and last year’s 500 poleman Joey Logano rounded out the top 12.
Casey Mears missed out on a spot in the top 12 shootout by a 0.001s in the opening segment, leaving him 13th.
The odd-numbered qualifiers will race in the first of the Thursday’s two Duel races, with the even-numbered qualifiers set to compete in race two.
Like Blaney, BK Racing’s Matthew DiBenedetto secured himself a spot in Sunday’s race, setting the 26th-fastest time in the opening phase of qualifying.
Martin Truex Jr failed to run in qualifying after his team encountered an issue with his car’s roof flap, so he will start at the rear of the grid for the second of the Duel races.
Post-qualifying technical inspection also revealed the track bars on the Stewart-Haas entries of Brian Vickers and Kevin Harvick were outside of the regulations, so they will start their Duel races from the back.
The team called the matter “a simple mistake” on its part and apologised for the error.
