NASCAR News: Logano leads all-Ford Front row for Daytona 500

It will be an all-Ford front row for the 2024 Daytona 500 with the Fords of Joey Logano and Michael McDowell the only two drivers locked in.

Joey Logano put the #22 Penske Ford on the pole with a lap of 181.947mph, knocking off Michael McDowell off the top spot by just 0.071s.

The remainder of the field will be set in Thursday’s twin Bluegrass Duel 150-milers.

Logano breaks the streak of Chevrolet sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500 and secures his first career pole in the “Great American Race.”

Reigning Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney and last year’s Daytona 500 pole winner Alex Bowman were knocked out of contention for the front two rows in Round 1 of qualifying and will look for better starting positions for Sunday through Thursday night’s Duel races.

Anthony Alfredo in the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet and David Ragan in the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford were the two open entries that locked their starting spots into Sunday’s main event on speed. Ragan narrowly beat out Hall of Fame driver Jimmie Johnson by 0.123 seconds.

Fast Facts

• Joey Logano won the Busch Light Pole Award for the DAYTONA 500 with a lap of 49.465 seconds, 181.947 mph. Logano is the 45th different driver to win the pole for the DAYTONA 500.
• This is his 29th pole in 544 NASCAR Cup Series races.
• This is his first pole and first top-10 start in 2024.
• This is his first pole in 31 races at Daytona International Speedway.
• Michael McDowell (second) posted his first top-10 start of 2024 and his fourth in 26 races at Daytona International Speedway.
• Kyle Larson (third) posted his seventh top-10 start at Daytona International Speedway. It is his first in one race this season.
• Josh Berry (23rd) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
• Anthony Alfredo (No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet) and David Ragan (No. 60 RFK Racing Ford) qualified into the DAYTONA 500 on speed.
• This is Team Penske’s first DAYTONA 500 pole.
• This is Ford’s 13th DAYTONA 500 pole.

Bowman, Reddick teams penalized after pre-qualifying inspection

Two NASCAR Cup Series teams failed twice in Daytona 500 pre-qualifying inspection Wednesday, resulting in crew member ejections and the loss of pit-stall selection for Thursday’s 150-mile qualifying races.

The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Alex Bowman and 23XI Racing’s No. 45 Toyota for Tyler Reddick both passed inspection, but on their third attempt through inspection. Bowman wound up 17th in Wednesday evening’s qualifying session, and Reddick was 36th on the speed chart in the first on-track action ahead of Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM).

Each team’s car chief was ejected for Thursday’s qualifying races:

• No. 45 Toyota: Michael Hobson
• No. 48 Chevrolet: Ty Sipes

Both teams will also select pit stalls last for Thursday’s Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying races (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM), which will help determine the 40-car starting lineup for Sunday’s 500-mile classic.

Bowman’s qualifying effort snapped his streak of Daytona 500 front-row starts, which ended at a record six in a row.

Daytona 500 Top-10 Shootout Results

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MANUF	BEHIND	LAPS	TIME	SPEED
1	22	Joey Logano		0.000s	1	49.465	181.947
2	34	Michael McDowell		0.071s	1	49.536	181.686
3	5	Kyle Larson		0.085s	1	49.550	181.635
4	2	Austin Cindric		0.202s	1	49.667	181.207
5	9	Chase Elliott		0.210s	1	49.675	181.178
6	24	William Byron		0.211s	1	49.676	181.174
7	3	Austin Dillon		0.240s	1	49.705	181.068
8	8	Kyle Busch		0.260s	1	49.725	180.995
9	1	Ross Chastain		0.291s	1	49.756	180.883
10	21	Harrison Burton		0.444s	1	49.909	180.328

Daytona 500 Bluegrass Vacations Duel #1 Lineup