Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland rocketed their way to the front row starting spots for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, August 23, with McDowell soaring to his fourth Busch Light Pole Award of the 2024 season.
McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion from Glendale, Arizona, was one of 10 from a list of 40-entered competitors to transfer into the second of two qualifying rounds consisting of one timed lap per round, with the top-10 competitors posting the 10-fastest lap times during the first round. At the conclusion of the first qualifying, McDowell and teammate Todd Gilliland had posted identical qualifying lap times at 182.86 mph in 49.218 seconds, where their times were both the fastest and the initial track record at Daytona in Next Gen cars.
During the final round, McDowell, who was the next-to-last competitor of 10 to post a qualifying lap, soared his No. 34 Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry right back to the top of the leaderboard with a track qualifying record of 183.165 mph in 49.136 seconds in a Next Gen car.
As a result, McDowell notched his fourth NASCAR Cup Series pole position of his career and his third on a superspeedway venue, all occurring in 2024. He will also start on pole position for the first time since doing so at World Wide Technology Raceway in June. The pole award also marks the fifth overall for Front Row Motorsports as McDowell, who is campaigning in his final season with the organization before moving to Spire Motorsports in 2025, strives to race his way into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs with two regular-season events remaining on the schedule. Currently, he is 157 points below the top-16 cutline to make the 2024 Playoffs.
“I’m just proud of everybody at Front Row Motorsports,” McDowell said on USA Network. “To have both cars on the front row is amazing. Just a testament to how hard everybody’s working at Front Row Motorsports. We know we got two shots left here [to make the Playoffs]. This is a big weekend for us, so to have both cars upfront is really important. Hopefully, we can stay up front, control the race and give ourselves a fighting chance to get into these Playoffs.”
Joining McDowell on the front row for Saturday’s main event will be teammate Todd Gilliland, who was the last competitor to qualify during the final round of qualifying and posted the second-best lap at 182.801 mph in 49.234 seconds. Like McDowell, Gilliland faces a “must-win” situation to make the 2024 Playoffs as he and his No. 38 Grillo’s Pickles Ford Mustang Dark Horse team are 151 points below the top-16 cutline.
Joey Logano, who posted the third-fastest qualifying lap at 182.341 mph in 49.358 seconds, will share the second row with Ryan Preece, who posted the fourth-best qualifying lap at 182.312 mph in 49.366 seconds. Rookie Josh Berry will start in fifth place with his best qualifying lap being scored at 182.197 mph in 49.397 seconds while Chase Briscoe will line up in sixth place with a qualifying lap at 182.194 mph in 49.398 seconds as Ford competitors claimed the top-six starting spots.
William Byron, the highest-qualifying Chevrolet competitor, will start in seventh place while Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott round out the top 10 starting spots, respectively.
Notably, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski will share the sixth row in 11th and 12th, respectively, while Chris Buescher, the reigning Coke Zero Sugar 400 winner, will start in 13th place as he shares the seventh row alongside Ryan Blaney. In addition, Austin Dillon will start 16th, Martin Truex Jr. will start 17th in his final full-time Cup start at Daytona, Bubba Wallace will line up in 18th place ahead of team owner Denny Hamlin and Ross Chastain will occupy the 24th starting spot ahead of Michigan winner Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs.
During the first qualifying round, Erik Jones was the only competitor who did not post a qualifying time after her forfeited his run due to an issue to his No. 43 Dollar Family Toyota Camry XSE entry. As a result, he will round out the 40-car grid by starting Saturday’s main event in 40th place, dead last.
*All 40 entered competitors made the main event.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
- Michael McDowell, 183.165 mph, 49.136 seconds
- Todd Gilliland, 182.801 mph, 49.234 seconds
- Joey Logano, 182.341 mph, 49.358 seconds
- Ryan Preece, 182.312 mph, 49.366 seconds
- Josh Berry, 182.197 mph, 49.397 seconds
- Chase Briscoe, 182.194 mph, 49.398 seconds
- William Byron, 182.057 mph, 49.435 seconds
- Austin Cindric, 181.998 mph, 49.451 seconds
- Kyle Larson, 181.899 mph, 49.478 seconds
- Chase Elliott, 181.752 mph, 49.518 seconds
- Kyle Busch, 181.613 mph, 49.556 seconds
- Brad Keselowski, 181.543 mph, 49.575 seconds
- Chris Buescher, 181.51 mph, 49.584 seconds
- Ryan Blaney, 181.499 mph, 49.587 seconds
- Noah Gragson, 181.408 mph, 49.612 seconds
- Austin Dillon, 181.40 mph, 49.614 seconds
- Martin Truex Jr., 181.17 mph, 49.677 seconds
- Bubba Wallace, 181.123 mph, 49.69 seconds
- Denny Hamlin, 181.006 mph, 49.722 seconds
- Harrison Burton, 180.999 mph, 49.724 seconds
- Alex Bowman, 180.937 mph, 49.741 seconds
- Daniel Suarez, 180.843 mph, 49.767 seconds
- Austin Hill, 180.835 mph, 49.769 seconds
- Ross Chastain, 180.825 mph, 49.772 seconds
- Tyler Reddick, 180.817 mph, 49.774 seconds
- Ty Gibbs, 180.752 mph, 49.792 seconds
- Christopher Bell, 180.745 mph, 49.794 seconds
- Daniel Hemric, 180.650 mph, 49.820 seconds
- Parker Retzlaff, 180.647 mph, 49.821 seconds
- Zane Smith, 180.563 mph, 49.844 seconds
- John Hunter Nemechek, 180.552 mph, 49.847 seconds
- Shane van Gisbergen, 180.426 mph, 49.882 seconds
- Cody Ware, 180.274 mph, 49.924 seconds
- Corey LaJoie, 180.263 mph, 49.927 seconds
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 179.795 mph, 50.057 seconds
- Justin Haley, 179.766 mph, 50.065 seconds
- Carson Hocevar, 179.176 mph, 50.079 seconds
- BJ McLeod, 177.441 mph, 50.721 seconds
- Joey Gase, 175.114 mph, 51.395 seconds
- Erik Jones, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
The 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway is scheduled to occur on Saturday, August 24, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
