NASCAR: Larsons wins pole for Daytona 500

America’s best driver, defending NASCAR Cup Champion Kyle Larson, has picked up where he left off last year by winning the Busch Light pole for the 64th Daytona 500 with a speed of 181.159mph, becoming the first defending series champion since Jimmie Johnson in 2008 to earn the pole for the Daytona 500 and spoiling Bowman’s bid for a third Daytona pole position.

Still, Bowman’s five straight appearances on the front row is an all-time record.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Chevy. Photo by Getty Images for NASCAR

Hendrick Motorsports cars took the top-3 positions with Alex Bowman 2nd in the #48 Ally Chevy and William Byron 3rd in the #24 Chevy at 181.046 mph and 180.850 mph.

Aric Almirola was the fastest non-chevy in 4th with a speed of 180.527 mph in his #10 Ford

Chase Elliott in the 4th Hendrick Chevy rounded out the top-5 with a speed of 180.314 mph.

Noah Gragson and Jacques Villeneueve topped the board among the six Open entries (teams without a charter), securing their starting spots in Sunday’s race. Gragson, a full-time contender in the Xfinity Series, attempted and failed to qualify a season ago. The 2022 Daytona 500 will be his Cup Series debut.

By qualifying 36th, Jacques Villeneuve is the only Formula One champion to ever qualify for the Daytona 500. When Mario Andretti raced in the 500, he had not yet won the F1 world championship.

Andretti won the race first time out in 1967, let’s see how Villeneuve does.

Same Speed as in 1967

1967 Daytona 500 Winner

1967 Daytona 500 winner – Mario Andretti

Pole Winner Quotes

KYLE LARSON HAS NEVER STARTED ON THE FRONT ROW OF THE DAYTONA 500. TONIGHT, A POLE. WHAT DOES THIS ONE MEAN TO YOU KYLE KNOWING EVERYTHING WITH THIS NEXT GEN CAR, TO BE THE FIRST TO DO IT?

“Yeah, it’s really neat. It makes me just, I mean anytime you are really proud of your team to get a pole here cause this is the littlest it has to do with us drivers, qualifying at superspeedways. Just a huge thank you to the engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports. Everybody who’s had a part in touching these vehicles, whether it be on the computer, engineering, or just hands on. It’s really neat, just awesome the speed in our HendrickCars.com Chevy. Hopefully this is the beginning of a really good weekend.”

RICK HENDRICK, BELIEVED IN YOU. BROUGHT YOU OVER HERE A YEAR AGO. HE JUST CALLED YOU, WHAT DID HE SAY?

“He said he loves seeing that HendrickCars.com Chevy on the pole. That paint scheme means a lot to him and Linda and means a lot to the whole Hendrick Motorsports family, so to have it on the pole at the Daytona 500 is really special. I think it would be even more special if we could win the Duels tomorrow and go on Sunday and win the 500.”

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet, and Alex Bowman, driver of the #48 Ally Chevrolet, pose in Ruoff Victory Lane after qualifying on the front row for the NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 16, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Qualifying Results

Pos No Driver Team Time Speed Behind
1 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 49.680 181.159 0.000s
2 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 49.711 181.046 0.031s
3 24 William Byron Jr. Axalta Chevrolet 49.765 180.850 0.085s
4 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 49.854 180.527 0.174s
5 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 49.913 180.314 0.233s
6 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 49.989 180.040 0.309s
7 1 Ross Chastain Advent Health Chevrolet 50.043 179.845 0.363s
8 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 50.077 179.723 0.397s
9 99 Daniel Suarez Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet 50.106 179.619 0.426s
10 21 Harrison Burton # Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford 50.137 179.508 0.457s
11 16 Daniel Hemric(i) Heritage Pool Supply Group Chevrolet 50.159 179.429 0.394s
12 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 50.160 179.426 0.395s
13 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Blue DEF/PEAK Ford 50.162 179.419 0.397s
14 20 Christopher Bell DeWalt Toyota 50.187 179.329 0.422s
15 8 Tyler Reddick 3CHI Chevrolet 50.191 179.315 0.426s
16 23 Bubba Wallace McDonald’s Toyota 50.196 179.297 0.431s
17 6 Brad Keselowski Kohler Generators Ford 50.196 179.297 0.431s
18 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota 50.202 179.276 0.437s
19 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 50.203 179.272 0.438s
20 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Chevrolet 50.204 179.269 0.439s
21 2 Austin Cindric # Discount Tire Ford 50.205 179.265 0.440s
22 34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stops Ford 50.209 179.251 0.444s
23 43 Erik Jones FOCUSfactor Chevrolet 50.218 179.219 0.453s
24 42 Ty Dillon Black Rifle Coffee Company Chevrolet 50.225 179.194 0.460s
25 45 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Toyota 50.285 178.980 0.520s
26 4 Kevin Harvick Busch Light #BUSCHRACETEAM Ford 50.312 178.884 0.547s
27 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 50.315 178.873 0.550s
28 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 50.378 178.649 0.613s
29 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 50.539 178.080 0.774s
30 7 Corey LaJoie Built.com Chevrolet 50.55 178.042 0.785s
31 38 Todd Gilliland # First Phase Credit Card Ford 50.559 178.010 0.794s
32 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/Irish Spring Chevrolet 50.639 177.729 0.874s
33 62 * Noah Gragson(i) Beard Oil/South Point Chevrolet 50.689 177.553 0.924s
34 77 Landon Cassill(i) FOX Nation Chevrolet 50.884 176.873 1.119s
35 51 Cody Ware Nurtec ODT Ford 50.928 176.720 1.163s
36 27 * Jacques Villeneuve Hezeberg Engineering Systems Ford 51.010 176.436 1.245s
37 50 * Kaz Grala(i) Pit Viper Sunglasses Chevrolet 51.094 176.146 1.329s
38 44 * Greg Biffle(i) Grambling State University Chevrolet 51.100 176.125 1.335s
39 78 BJ McLeod NASCAR Ignition Ford 51.153 175.943 1.388s
40 15 David Ragan Select Blinds Ford 51.216 175.726 1.451s
41 55 * JJ Yeley(i) Hex.com Ford 52.005 173.060 2.240s
42 66 * Timmy Hill(i) Bumper.com Ford 52.263 172.206 2.498s

 

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