#24-Chase Elliott win the Coors Light pole for the Daytona 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway with a speed of 192.872mph, his 2nd Daytona pole and 3rd career pole. Elliott has never won from the pole. #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start 2nd after running 192.864mph. The front row is locked into those spots. The rest of the field will be determined by the Can-Am Duel 150 Qualifying Races on Thursday (7pm/et on FS1). The rest of the top12: #2-Keselowski, #14=Bowyer, #78-Truex Jr., #11-Hamlin, #4-Harvick, #5-Kahne, #20-Kenseth, #31-Newman, #18-Busch and #13-Ty Dillon. Winning back-to-back Daytona 500 poles is something of a family tradition, as #24-Chase Elliott proved by the skin of his teeth on Sunday at Daytona International Speedway. The last driver to take a lap in the second and final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, Elliott covered the distance in 46.663 seconds (192.872 mph) to edge Hendrick Motorsports teammate #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. by .002 seconds. The pole was the second straight for Elliott, who led the field to green last year as a Sunoco rookie. It was the third straight for Elliott’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, who won the pole with driver Jeff Gordon in 2015 in Gordon’s last year as a full-time driver. With three straight poles as a crew, Gustafson shares a record previously held solely by Ernie Elliott, Chase Elliott’s uncle, who fielded cars driven by former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, Chase’s father. ‘Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports has done a lot of work this off-season, said Elliott, who claimed the third Coors Light Pole Award of his career, all at restrictor-plate tracks. ‘This team definitely has a knack for these plate tracks, as they showed with Jeff Gordon and then last year with here and Talladega (where Elliott also won the pole). But that stuff doesn’t just happen by staying the same, as everybody knows. Everyone is always trying to get better and make their cars better and faster; and the engine shop is always finding new things. So I think that’s just proof that they’re improving with everybody else and taking that next step, which is really impressive. I’m happy to be a part of it, and hopefully we can run good next Sunday. Elliott and Earnhardt are the only two drivers locked into their starting spots for next Sunday’s 59th running of the Great American Race. They will lead the field to the green flag in the first and second Can-Am Duel 150-mile qualifying races on Thursday night, Elliott in the first Duel, Earnhardt in the second. Earnhardt is racing for the first time since a concussion sidelined him for the final 18 events of the 2016 season. The satisfaction of locking in a front-row starting position tempered his disappointment at missing the pole by the slimmest of margins. ‘I certainly would have loved to have gotten a pole, but my boss man (Rick Hendrick) is happy, Earnhardt said. ‘I just talked to him on the phone, and he’s got to be thrilled with having his cars up front. Brad Keselowski qualified third at 192.691 mph and will start on the outside of the front row in Thursday night’s first Duel. Clint Bowyer, in his first competitive effort in a Stewart-Haas Racing Ford will start beside Earnhardt in the second Duel after posting the fourth fastest speed (192.571 mph). With 36 chartered teams knowing they will race next Sunday, six ‘Open entries are vying for the four remaining berths in the Daytona 500 field. Sunday’s time trials brought good news for Brendan Gaughan and Elliott Sadler, who know they will race next Sunday as the two fastest qualifiers among the ‘go-or-go-homers. Conversely, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Timmy Hill, who posted the two slowest times in the field, can race in the 500 only if they are the fastest Open drivers in their respective Duels.(NASCAR Wire Service) During round one of qualifying #24-Elliott was also fastest at 192.308mph, followed by #88-Earnhardt Jr., #2-Keselowski, #78-Truex Jr., #20-Kenseth, #11-Hamlin, #14-Bowyer, #18-Busch, #31-Newman, #5-Kahne, #4-Harvick and #13-Dillon, these 12 drivers advanced to the 2nd/final round and went for the two locked positions of the pole and outside pole. Not Advancing: 17, 48, 19, 42, 22, 21, 6, 77, 27, 41, 1, 10, 43, 3, 34, 47, 32, 95, 37, 38, 75*, 72, 15, 7*, 55*, 96*, 23, 83*, 33, 51*. The six Open/non-Charter, teams running for the four open Daytona 500 spots, #75-Gaughan and #7-Sadler secured spots by being the two fastest non-charter cars in qualifying. Gaughan was 33rd fastest and Sadler was 36th fastest. The next two drivers in speed are #55-Sorenson and #96-Kennington. If either Gaughan or Sadler are the highest finisher in their Duels, Sorenson would make the race on speed. If both Gaughan and Sadler are the highest finisher in their Duels, then both Sorenson and Kennington would make the Daytona 50 field. The remaining two drivers: #83-LaJoie and #51-Hill, have to be the highest finishing non-Charter car to make the race. For round-by-round qualifying results, see the Daytona 500 Qualifying Results page (pdf).
