Chase Briscoe made an early statement at Daytona International Speedway. In his first laps driving for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) he won the Busch Light Pole Award. He’ll start for this year’s 67th annual running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
Format:
The format that determines the front row and pole winner of the event is based on two qualifying rounds. Each round is comprised of a single-lap session for each of the 45-entered competitors. Following the first qualifying round, the top 10 fastest qualifiers transferred to the second and final single-lap round. In the final round, they will contend for both the pole and a front-row starting spot.
Qualifying:
During the first qualifying session, Briscoe, JGR’s newest competitor of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE entry, logged a blistering lap time of 182.860 mph in 49.218 seconds. He was one of 10 competitors to transfer to the event’s final qualifying round. In the final round, he carried the speed from the previous round, posting a pole-winning lap at 182.745 mph in 49.249 seconds. Briscoe’s pole-winning lap was enough to dislodge former Ford teammate Austin Cindric off the top-starting spot on the leaderboard.
Pole Award:
With his accomplishment, Briscoe, the reigning Southern 500 champion from Mitchell, Indiana, notched his third Cup Series career pole. It was his first pole since the 2023 regular-season finale at Daytona. He became the 46th competitor overall and the first Indiana native since the late Darel Dieringer in 1965 to achieve the pole position for the Great American Race.
As a bonus, Briscoe recorded the first Daytona 500 pole for JGR since Bobby Labonte accomplished it in 1998. It was also the first ever for the Toyota nameplate. Ironically, the pole award marked the second in a row for JGR’s No. 19 Toyota team led by crew chief James Small. The team previously claimed the pole position for the 2024 finale at Phoenix Raceway with Martin Truex Jr.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season will mark Briscoe’s fifth consecutive start in the Daytona 500. Having notched a career-best third-place result in 2022, the Indiana native will attempt to become the 44th competitor overall to win the season-opening event at the World Center of Racing.
Chase Briscoe Quote:
“It’s a great way to start our season,” Briscoe said. “What an unbelievable way to start off the year with Toyota. To be able to be the guy to deliver them the first [pole] of anything [at Daytona] when they’ve already accomplished so much, it’s pretty cool. Man, to think that I’m gonna start on the pole for the Great American Race with, honestly, the ultimate Great American brand in Bass Pro Shops, is unbelievable. I just can’t thank Coach [Joe] Gibbs enough, the entire Joe Gibbs organization.”
“The whole off-season [period], everybody kept telling me [that] the focus was trying to qualify better at superspeedways,” Briscoe added. “That’s something they really struggled at last year. For our No. 19 group to come here and to sit on the pole for the biggest race of the year is pretty special. Hopefully, we can just carry [the momentum] on now.”
Austin Cindric joins Briscoe on the Front Row
Austin Cindric, the 2022 Daytona 500 champion from Mooresville, North Carolina, will be joining the former on the front row after he steered his No. 2 Discount Tire/Team Penske Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry to his best-qualifying lap at 182.463 mph in 49.325 seconds.
The 2025 Cup Series season will mark Cindric’s first-ever time starting on the front row for the Great American Race after his previous-best starting spot was fifth place in 2022. As Cindric sets his sights towards the remaining events of this year’s Daytona Speedweeks festivities, he will also strive to become the 13th competitor overall to win the Daytona 500 multiple times.
Austin Cindric Quote:
“[The result]’s, obviously, a huge credit to the guys on the No. 2 car [for] building a really fast race car,” Cindric said. “I think starting [on] pole would be better. Chase and I haven’t ever compared race results with one another our entire careers. We just take jabs at each other for qualifying results. This one’s gonna sting for a while, but congrats to him and Coach [Gibbs] and [the No. 19] guys. It’s pretty cool to start on the front row with one of my good friends. All-in-all, it’s a great box checked for the start of this week. I think every single part of this weekend is important to setting up with an opportunity to win this race on Sunday. We’ll do the best we can to learn about our car tomorrow night [during the Duels]. Good start.”
Top-20
Ryan Preece, who is campaigning in his first season with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, posted the third-fastest qualifying lap during Wednesday’s session at 182.426 mph in 49.335 seconds as he will be one of the remaining 43-entered competitors vying for their official starting spots for this year’s Daytona 500 through a pair of Duels that will take place this Thursday night. Joey Logano, Josh Berry, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell, Ty Dillon and Kyle Larson, all of whom advanced to the final qualifying round, rounded out the top 10 on the qualifying chart.
Zane Smith, who was one of 35 competitors who did not transfer to the final qualifying session, posted the 11th-fastest qualifying lap at 181.800 mph in 49.505 seconds. Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Todd Gilliland, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top 20 qualifying spots.
Notes:
William Byron, Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Cole Custer, Carson Hocevar, Erik Jones, Ross Chastain and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified 21st, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 32nd, 34th, 36th, 37th and 41st, respectively. In addition, rookies Riley Herbst and Shane van Gisbergen qualified 27th and 30th, respectively.
Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson Claim Starting Spots:
Meanwhile and amid the on-track battles for the front-row starting spots, Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson were both left smiling as they guaranteed themselves starting spots for this year’s Daytona 500 by being the two-fastest non-chartered qualifiers of nine overall on the leaderboard.
The competitor who concluded Wednesday’s qualifying session as the highest of the non-chartered participants was Martin Truex Jr., who posted the 22nd-fastest lap at 181.302 mph in 49.641 seconds. As a result of his qualifying run, Truex, who retired from full-time Cup competition after the 2024 season but is returning in a one-off event with TRICON Garage, will make his 21st consecutive start in this year’s Daytona 500. Truex’s qualification also means that TRICON, a Craftsman Truck Series race-winning team, will compete in a Cup Series event for the first time.
Like Briscoe, Truex, is reunited with his 2017 championship-winning crew chief Cole Pearn and is sporting the number 56 alongside his Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE entry while paying homage to his late father, Martin Truex Sr., will attempt to become the 44th competitor overall to win the Great American Race after he lost to Denny Hamlin in the closest-recorded finish of 0.010 seconds in 2016.
Martin Truex Jr. Quote:
“[It’s] Definitely a big relief,” Truex said. “You never know what could happen in the Duels. They get crazy, something on pit road will get you in trouble or whatever. Great job by all the [TRICON Garage] guys. They worked their butts off on this car. They were sweating all afternoon and luckily, we were able to put on a good lap in. Thanks to Johnny [Morris] and Bass Pro [Shops] for helping us put this deal together. Big night for [Toyota] and hopefully, we can have some the rest of the week.”
Perhaps, no competitor exhaled a bigger sigh of relief than Jimmie Johnson. He ultimately tied with Bubba Wallace with the 28th-fastest lap at 180.785 mph in 49.783 seconds. He was, however, the second and final non-chartered competitor of the night that locked into this year’s Daytona 500.
This year’s Great American Race will mark Johnson’s 22nd consecutive appearance in NASCAR’s season-opening event at Daytona as he strives to become the seventh competitor overall to win the event three times. It also marks the third consecutive season that Johnson has made the Daytona 500 starting grid while competing in a non-chartered entry. Compared to this season, Johnson had to earn a starting spot for the 500 through the first of two Daytona Duels.
Jimmie Johnson Quote:
“After what I went through last year, I am so thrilled,” Johnson said. “[I am] Very, very proud of everybody at Legacy Motor Club and the effort that they put into this car. The evolution we’ve been on through the end of [2024] to now. Very excited.”
For this year’s event at Daytona, Johnson will be sporting a special black, blue and white-pinstriped scheme on his No. 84 Carvana/Legacy Motor Club Toyota Camry XSE entry. The scheme was designed by NBA legend Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal and features the latter’s “Dunkman” logo with a basketball. Shaq got to design Johnson’s Daytona 500 scheme after the former defeated the latter in a free-throw contest.
“Shaq, we’re in the big show, buddy!” Johnson exclaimed. “It’s gonna be a lot of fun, so I’m thrilled.”
Open Competitors:
The remaining open competitors include Justin Allgaier, Corey LaJoie, Helio Castroneves, Anthony Alfredo, Chandler Smith, BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley will compete for the final two open spots for this weekend’s Daytona 500 through Thursday’s Duels. Allgaier, Castroneves, Smith and Yeley will compete against one another in the first Duel event while LaJoie, Alfredo and McLeod will square off against one another in the second Duel event.
The 2025 Daytona Speedweeks festivities continue with a pair of Duel events that will determine the rest of the starting lineup for this year’s 67th running of the Daytona 500. The first Duel event will commence at 7 p.m. ET on FSFirst, on Thursday, February 13, 1 while the second Duel event will follow suit at approximately 8:45 p.m. ET on FS1.
Tune into the 2025 Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 16 at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
