Daytona 500 Qualifying Outcomes: Kyle Busch Wins First Daytona 500 Pole

[ad_1] Daytona Worldwide Speedway (Daytona Seaside, Fla.) — Kyle Busch — who entered the 2026 NASCAR Cup Sequence season determined for a win in any race and in search of his first Daytona 500 in his twenty first begin — will lead the sphere to inexperienced Sunday from the pole due to posting the quickest lap in single-car qualifying Wednesday. It is the primary Daytona 500 pole for the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driver.

Busch can be joined on the entrance row by final 12 months’s pole-sitter, Chase Briscoe. Additionally joyful following qualifying: Corey Heim and Justin Allgaier locked themselves into the 2026 Daytona 500 discipline; the ultimate two spots and the total Daytona 500 beginning order can be set within the "duels" qualifying races Thursday at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.

Listed below are my takeaways:

1. Kyle Busch Has Historic Shot Busch, a two-time Cup champion driving a 93-race winless streak, has led 342 laps over his profession within the Daytona 500, probably the most laps led by a driver who has by no means gained the game’s greatest race.

No driver has ever earned his first Daytona 500 win later than his twentieth begin — Dale Earnhardt did it in 1998 — so Busch has an opportunity at historical past.

"It is a field we’ve bought to test," Busch mentioned in his post-qualifying information convention. "So right here we're. This is a chance to have the ability to do this. I’ve come down right here loads of years, and I believe I completed in about each place potential.

"It’d be good to shut out [that streak] with a victory right here within the Daytona 500."

2. Good Begin For New Pairing DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA: NASCAR Corridor of Famer and RCR crew proprietor, Richard Childress, congratulates Kyle Busch after successful the 2026 Daytona 500 pole on February 11, 2026. (Photograph by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Photos)

For Busch, this can be a lift for him and new crew chief Jim Pohlman, who spent the previous couple of years as crew chief for Justin Allgaier within the O’Reilly Sequence, the place they gained the 2024 sequence title.

Busch has mentioned the important thing for Pohlman is retaining folks accountable. Bringing quick vehicles to the observe will help, too.

"Only a valiant effort by everyone right here," Busch mentioned in his post-qualifying interview with FOX Sports activities' Jamie Little. "It might be very nice to be doing an interview like this about being No. 1 come Sunday night time."

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3. Huge Aid and Pleasure For Heim and Allgaier DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA: Justin Allgaier, driver of the #40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, earlier than Daytona 500 observe. (Photograph by Jeff Curry/Getty Photos)

Corey Heim and Justin Allgaier have been the 2 quickest vehicles not already locked into the Daytona 500 discipline, in order that they earned spots in Sunday's race. For each, it was an emotional second.

Heim didn't make the Cup race final 12 months on the Chicago road course, and right here, he was making an attempt to make the Daytona 500, the place there have been extra vehicles entered than spots, in his first race since then. He left no query, qualifying fifth general.

"After that Chicago race, everybody actually caught behind me and understood that I am a growing race automotive driver, and I will make these errors," mentioned Heim, who gained 12 truck races final 12 months on his strategy to the sequence title, in his post-qualifying information convention. "They labored their tails off to deliver me a terrific Daytona 500 automotive. Tremendous cool feeling to have that help."

Allgaier drives for JR Motorsports, and having an proprietor (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) who's arguably the preferred individual within the sport brings with it its personal strain. Final 12 months, Allgaier needed to race his means in by the duels for JRM to make its first Cup race. This 12 months’s Daytona 500 is the group’s second.

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4. Second Duel Huge Alternative (Photograph by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photos)

Six drivers will vie for the ultimate two spots within the Daytona 500 with the highest driver not already within the race who finishes the most effective in every of the 2 qualifying races ("the duels") incomes a spot. The vehicles making an attempt to make the Daytona 500 discipline are cut up within the two duels primarily based on qualifying time, placing each Corey LaJoie and Chandler Smith — from two established organizations (RFK Racing and Entrance Row Motorsports) — within the first duel, together with Casey Mears.

The second duel has three drivers from part-time single-car groups: Beard Motorsports’ Anthony Alfredo, Stay Quick Motorsports’ B.J. McLeod and NY Racing’s JJ Yeley. If LaJoie and Smith have been cut up between the 2 duels, they'd be the favorites to earn a Daytona 500 spot.

"The issue is while you're racing in these duels, it is the uncontrollable that you just're nervous about, the unexpected circumstances, whether or not it is the technique or an accident or any of these issues," Alfredo informed me.

"As a crew, we all know what we have to do to execute and in the end management, however there's loads of issues you may't in speedway racing or any racing for that matter."

4 ½: What’s Subsequent The 2 60-lap qualifying duels Thursday night time (7 p.m. ET, FS1). Drivers will study probably the most about their vehicles for the Daytona 500 — and hope to not crash, relegating them to the rear.

The opposite secret is the duels pay factors on a 10-to-1 scale for these ending first to tenth. With the brand new factors system this 12 months, a 10-race postseason and bonus factors primarily based strictly on regular-season standings positions, these factors from the duels may imply extra.