In what might be his final start at a track synonymous with the Earnhardt family, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will lead the field to the green flag tomorrow night after grabbing pole position for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
The driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet won the pole after posting a final round time of 47.127 and a speed of 190.973 mph.
“I have to give Hendrick Motorsports a lot of credit, particularly for me personally it has been the No. 24 (Chase Elliott) bunch. We’ve been kind of pushing each other over the last several years in qualifying at Talladega and Daytona. It’s been a healthy competition,” Earnhardt said. “That’s why we win poles and qualify so well at some of these race tracks is a healthy competition within the company. Greg and all the guys deserve all the credit for the car. I don’t do anything in qualifying except hold the wheel and make sure I don’t hit the apron. The car does everything. A lot of credit to the power and the body man back at the shop. All that stuff is so critical and they did a great job today.”
It’s his 14th career pole in 612 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts.
Teammate Chase Elliott will start second after posting a time of 47.171 and a speed of 190.795 mph. Brad Keselowski will start third after posting a time of 47.297 and a speed of 190.287 mph. Kasey Kahne will start fourth with a time of 47.356 and a speed of 190.050 mph. Kevin Harvick will round out the top-five after posting a time of 47.357 and a speed of 190.046 mph.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Blaney and Danica Patrick will round out the top-10.
Clint Bowyer and Jimmie Johnson round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.
Forty cars entered, so none were sent home.
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