NASCAR Cup Series

Daytona Success: Hamlin was victorious in Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway, leading a race-high 39 of 75 laps for his third-career win in the unofficial season opening event.

The two Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet's of the No. 4 driven by Kevin Harvick and No. 14 driven by Brian Vickers failed post-qualifying tech inspection after the track bars were found to be out of compliance with the Sprint Cup Series rule book.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. covered the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in 46.126 seconds (195.118 mph) for the fifth-best qualifying time in Sunday’s Daytona 500 pole day. The session sets the front row for next Sunday’s Daytona 500, as well as the starting lineup for Thursday’s Twin Duel qualifying races. Stenhouse will start the qualifying duel in the third position, inside of the second row.

For the fourth consecutive year, a Chevrolet SS will lead the field to the green flag for the season-opening Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway. This year, Rookie of the Year contender, Chase Elliott, put the Bowtie Brand in the top spot for the Great American Race with a lap of 45.845 seconds/ 196.314 mph in his No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet SS.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – DAYTONA 500 POLE WINNER “This is a very, very cool day. I don’t know that this opportunity has sunk in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500. So this is very cool."

Elliott will lead the field to the green flag for next Sunday's 58th running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500. At 20 years, two months and 17 days, Elliott is the youngest Daytona 500 pole-sitter in NASCAR history.

After drawing the pole position for the Sprint Unlimited, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet hoped to start his quest for a third Daytona 500 victory with a strong performance in the 75-lap exhibition race. Those hopes were quickly dashed on lap 44.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET SS – DAYTONA 500 POLE WINNER “This is a very, very cool day. I don’t know that this opportunity has sunk in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500. So this is very cool."

RYAN BLANEY, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion - Qualified 7th - “It is nice to be locked into the race. The biggest relief for us is to know you are locked in and are good to be able to race in the 500. That kind of lets us go race on Thursday a little bit more than we would have instead of playing it conservative if we weren’t locked in."

There is no doubt that Danica Patrick enjoys a significant fan base, but her new sponsor Nature’s Bakery has decided to take that fandom to a whole new level. This week’s NASCAR Behind the Scenes explores how fans of the No. 10 Nature’s Bakery Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet can qualify to be a Danica Patrick fantern.