DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kyle Busch delivered the best Daytona 500 qualifying effort of his championship NASCAR career Wednesday night at Daytona International Speedway, claiming his first ever pole position for the Great American Race (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Busch’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was quickest in first-round qualifying and answered the work resoundingly with an even faster lap (183.651 mph) in the 10-car final round — besting Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe by only .064 mph to set the front row.
Busch, 40, and Briscoe, 31 — the 2025 Daytona 500 polesitter — locked into the 41-car field along with 23XI Racing’s Corey Heim and JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, who claimed the two open positions up for grabs Wednesday. The remainder of the field will be settled Thursday in the America 250 Florida Duel at Daytona races (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with the 500 starting positions to be based on the Duels’ finishing order.
This will mark Busch’s 21st start in the Daytona 500 — and no previous driver has won the race with more than 20 starts. The late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt scored his only Daytona 500 victory in his 20th start for Busch’s team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Childress.
“Certainly, here on a Wednesday night, being able to qualify on my first pole for the Daytona 500, that’s pretty special,” said a grinning Busch. “I’ve had one other speedway pole down here in Daytona for the summer race. This feels good. Feels really good for RCR as a group.
“Just a valiant effort by everybody here,” the two-time series champion added. “It would be really nice to be doing an interview like this about being No. 1 come Sunday night.”
Briscoe was encouraged by his showing as well, noting with a laugh that more typically it’s the Hendrick Motorsports team that has dominated Daytona 500 front row qualifying in recent years.
“It’s cool for sure to be able to consistently (perform) two years in a row now,” said Briscoe, who drives the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “It’s really a testament to the folks back at JGR. We’ve made so many improvements on our superspeedway program. This race really comes down to, at least in qualifying, attention to detail, just doing every little thing. …
“It’s the kid in me. … Being in the front row for two years in a row at the Daytona 500, it’s a really big deal.”
It was certainly a thrilling start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series points season, the qualifying session featured a great battle among all three series manufacturers — with four Chevrolets, three Fords and three Toyotas making up the final round. Nine of the 10 cars that advanced bettered the pole speed from a year ago.
Last week’s Clash preseason-opening race winner Ryan Preece was third fastest in the No. 60 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, fourth quickest followed by Heim, the only one of eight “open” cars to make the 10-car final round.
“Just kind of nerve-wracking for sure to say the least,” the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Heim conceded of earning his first ever Daytona 500 start in the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota.
Front Row Motorsports driver Noah Gragson had his qualifying lap disallowed after he used his hand to affect airflow, violating a new NASCAR rule that took effect this year. He will start last in his Duel race.
“I completely forgot about that rule,” Gragson said, “That one’s on me.”
–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
