Kyle Busch is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, but enters the season nursing the longest winless streak of his career at NASCAR’s top-level, dating back to June 2023. But, there’s no better way to pick up momentum to start the year than by winning the pole for the DAYTONA 500.
For the first time in a career that spans more than two decades, Busch finds himself guaranteed to lead the field to green in the DAYTONA 500 — barring any issues in Thursday’s duel that would require Richard Childress Racing to unload a backup car.
The Las Vegas, Nevada-native had control over the entire single-vehicle qualifying session on Wednesday evening, posting the only sub-49-second lap in the opening round of time trials, and backing up his pace with the fastest lap in the final round, clocking in at 49.006 seconds (183.651).
Busch’s 48.932-second lap in the opening round of qualifying marked the fastest single-lap, single-car speed in the history of the seventh-generation racecar at Daytona International Speedway, a mark that the top-six cars were able to clear.
RELATED: 2026 DAYTONA 500 Pole Qualifying Results
The pole position marks the 35th for Busch in the NASCAR Cup Series and his first since May 2024 at Dover Motor Speedway. In each of his last six poles at NASCAR’s top-level, the 40-year-old driver has managed to finish inside the top four.
“Sounds really good right now. Certainly, here on Wednesday night, being able to qualify on my first pole for the DAYTONA 500, that’s pretty special,” Busch said after qualifying. “I’ve had one other speedway pole down here in Daytona for the Summer race. This feels good.”
Busch, driving the No. 8 Zone Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet, was able to secure the DAYTONA 500 pole by the tiniest of margins, just 0.017 seconds over last year’s polesitter for ‘The Great American Race’, Chase Briscoe. It’s the smallest pole-winning margin in single-vehicle DAYTONA 500 qualifying since 2017, when Chase Elliott edged out the now-retired Dale Earnhardt, Jr. by 0.002 seconds to secure the pole position.
Briscoe, with the second-fastest time in the final round of qualifying, is guaranteed a front-row start in Sunday’s event, barring something happening during Thursday’s duel race.
Cook Out Clash winner Ryan Preece was the third-fastest driver in qualifying from Daytona, and will be starting on the outside of the front row for Duel #1, while Denny Hamlin, a three-time DAYTONA 500 winner, will begin his quest for a fourth with an outside front row start in Duel #2.
In an incredible effort for 23XI Racing, Corey Heim rounded out the top five in single-car speeds in the No. 67 Toyota Camry XSE. By virtue of being the fastest of the Open Entries that did not take the Open Exemption Provisional (OEP), Heim officially locked himself into the DAYTONA 500.
“Going out first, no one really knew kind of where we were going to wrap up compared to our practice qualifying times,” Heim told the media after qualifying. “Pretty similar, maybe a little bit faster. I knew it was going to be really close between — I thought it was going to be the No. 40 [Allgaier] and No. 99 [LaJoie] based on looking at practice speeds.”
Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson ranked sixth and seventh in qualifying, with Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, and Joey Logano rounding out the top-10. Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE, was bumped from the final round of qualifying by a mere thousandths of a second by Joey Logano.
Justin Allgaier, driving the No. 40 Traveller Whiskey Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for JR Motorsports, locked himself into the DAYTONA 500 for a second straight year, although this time, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series champion was able to do so based on qualifying time, instead of racing in through the Duel.
Corey LaJoie came up just 0.004 seconds short of locking himself into the DAYTONA 500, piloting a fourth entry for RFK Racing in the No. 99 Trimble Ford Mustang Dark Horse. LaJoie will have to rely on a strong finish in Thursday’s duel to get into the season-opener.
He’ll be joined by the following drivers, who on Thursday evening will be fighting for their DAYTONA 500 bids in the Duels: Anthony Alfredo, Chandler Smith, BJ McLeod, Casey Mears, and JJ Yeley.
The results of Wednesday evening’s single-vehicle qualifying session from Daytona International Speedway will ultimately determine the starting lineup for Thursday’s Duels.
The America 250 Florida Duels at Daytona International Speedway will take place on Thursday, February 12, at 7:00 PM ET on FOX Sports 1, Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
