Kyle Busch stormed back atop the competition amid a difficult two-year campaign on the track. He did so by claiming the Busch Light Pole Award for the 68th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday, February 11.
The qualifying format for the 2026 Daytona 500 event was based on two single-car qualifying rounds. In the first round, each of the 45 competitors entered to bid for 41 starting spots cycled around Daytona through a single-timed lap. At the conclusion of the first qualifying round, the top-10 fastest competitors transferred to the second and final round, where they each ran a single qualifying lap. The two-fastest competitors following the final qualifying session were awarded the top-two starting spots (front row) for this weekend’s Great American Race.
During the first qualifying round, Busch, driver of the No. 8 zone Jalapeño Lime/Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry, posted the fastest lap over the field at 183.651 mph in 49.006 seconds. He was one of 10 competitors to transfer to the final qualifying round. During the latter round, he used his speed from the first session to soar to the top of the leaderboard. He clinched the pole position with a pole-winning lap of 183.651 mph in 49.006 seconds.
Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, became the 47th competitor overall to win the pole position for the Daytona 500. He also recorded his 35th career pole in the Cup Series division. It was his first since Dover Motor Speedway in April 2024. It was also his second overall at Daytona, dating back to July 2013. Busch’s first Daytona 500 pole was also the first for Richard Childress Racing since 2014 and the 33rd overall for the Chevrolet nameplate.
The year 2026 marks Busch’s 22nd season of competing in the NASCAR Cup Series division and his fourth in a row driving for Richard Childress Racing. It was also his first with his new crew chief, Jim Pohlman. Pohlman is the 2023 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship-winning crew chief, reuniting with Richard Childress Racing for the first time since 2022. By achieving his first elusive Daytona 500 pole position after 21 attempts, minus his injured start of the 2015 season, Busch will strive to claim his first victory in the Great American Race in his 21st attempt come this Sunday, February 15. He will also attempt to erase a 93-race winless Cup Series drought. His latest Cup victory dates back to June 2023 at World Wide Technology Raceway.
“[The pole] Sounds really good right now,” Busch said on FS1. “Certainly, here on Wednesday night, being able to qualify on my first pole for the Daytona 500, that’s pretty special. I’ve had one other speedway pole in my career down here in Daytona for the summer race. This feels good. It feels really good for [Richard Childress Racing] as a group. It’d be really nice to be doing an interview like this about being number one come Sunday night [after the Daytona 500].”
Chase Briscoe, the reigning Daytona 500 pole winner who was attempting to become the sixth competitor to achieve consecutive Daytona 500 poles, will join Busch on the front row after he piloted his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops/Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE entry to his best qualifying lap at 183.587 mph in 49.023 seconds. With his second consecutive front row start, Briscoe will attempt to win Sunday’s 500 event for the first time in his sixth appearance.
Ryan Preece, winner of this year’s Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, posted the third-fastest qualifying lap during a Daytona 500 pole qualifying session for a second consecutive season. For this season, Preece’s best lap occurred at 183.445 mph in 49.061 seconds.
Preece will be one of the remaining 43 competitors vying for starting spots in this year’s Daytona 500 through a pair of America 250 Florida Duel events on Thursday night (February 12). Denny Hamlin, Corey Heim, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Chris Büscher, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano, all of whom advanced to the final qualifying round, rounded out the top 10 on the qualifying chart.
The competitors who qualified 11th through 20th during Wednesday’s qualifying session were Ty Gibbs, Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell, Justin Allgaier, Corey LaJoie, John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Cindric, Brad Keselowski, Zane Smith and Ryan Blaney, respectively.
Michael McDowell, William Byron, rookie Connor Zilisch, Cole Custer, Erik Jones, Cody Ware, Josh Berry, Jimmie Johnson, Carson Hocevar and Bubba Wallace qualified 21st through 30th, respectively.
Rounding out the 45-car field were Riley Herbst, AJ Allmendinger, Todd Gilliland, Ross Chastain, Anthony Alfredo, Ty Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Chandler Smith, BJ McLeod, Casey Mears, JJ Yeley and Noah Gragson, respectively.
Gragson, driver of the No. 4 Rush Truck Center/Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry, was demoted to 45th place on the qualifying charts. His time was disallowed because the driver stuck his hand out of his entry during qualifying to deflect air. The rule that bans competitors from sticking their hands out to deflect air while qualifying was recently implemented ahead of the 2026 season.
Amid the battle for this year’s Daytona 500 pole position, Corey Heim and Justin Allgaier were the top-two competitors competing in open entries to secure starting spots for the 500 event based on their qualifying speed.
Heim, the reigning Craftsman Truck Series champion and a part-time driver of 23XI Racing’s No. 67 Robinhood Toyota Camry XSE entry this season, was the highest-ranked open competitor after he posted the seventh-fastest time lap at 183.158 mph in 49.138 seconds during the first qualifying round. After transferring to the second round, he was briefly atop the qualifying charts before he ended up with the fifth-fastest lap overall at 183.12 mph in 49.148 seconds.
As a result, Heim will officially make his first career start in this year’s Great American Race. 23XI Racing will field four entries in the Daytona 500 event for the first time ever.
Allgaier, the 2023 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion, posted the 14th-fastest lap overall following the first qualifying session at 182.923 mph in 49.201 seconds. Allgaier’s lap was enough to emerge ahead of the next highest-scored open competitor, Corey LaJoie, on the qualifying chart.
With the result, Allgaier, who had to earn a starting spot through the Daytona Duel events a year ago, secured a Daytona 500 starting spot for JR Motorsports’ No. 40 Traveller Whiskey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry team for a second consecutive time.
Notably, Jimmie Johnson was the 28th-fastest competitor, fourth in the open entry battle, at 182.312 mph in 49.366 seconds. Despite competing in an open entry, he will have a guaranteed starting spot for this year’s Daytona 500 by using the Open Exemption Provisional.
The remaining open competitors that include Corey LaJoie, Anthony Alfredo, Chandler Smith, BJ McLeod, Casey Mears and JJ Yeley will compete for the final two open spots for this year’s Daytona 500 through Thursday’s America 250 Florida Duel events. LaJoie, Smith and Mears will battle in the first Duel, while Alfredo, McLeod, and Yeley will battle in the second Duel event.
The 2026 Daytona Speedweeks festivities continue with a pair of America 250 Florida Duel events that will determine the rest of the starting lineup for this year’s 68th running of the Daytona 500. The first Duel will commence at 7 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX on Thursday, February 12, while the second Duel event will follow suit at approximately 8:45 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
The 2026 Daytona 500 will air Sunday, February 15, at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
