Joey Logano and Michael McDowell earned Ford a front-row lockout for the Daytona 500 by claiming the top two spots in qualifying Wednesday night.
Logano, a former Daytona 500 winner, earned the pole with a lap of 181.947 mph (49.465 seconds). It will be the first time Logano has led the field to the green flag at Daytona.
“This is all about the team,” Logano said of his 29th NASCAR Cup Series pole. “I’d like to take credit, but I can’t today. These guys have done such an amazing job working on these cars; this superspeedway qualifying is 100% the car. There is only so much the driver can do, so I’m really proud of them. It’s a big win for our team, for everyone at Team Penske, Ford, and the new Dark Horse Mustang.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1428]
McDowell qualified second at 181.686 mph (49.536 seconds). The Front Row Motorsports driver won the Daytona 500 in 2022. Sunday will be the first time he’s started on the front row for the event.
Kyle Larson was third fastest in the final qualifying round at 181.635 mph. Austin Cindric was fourth fastest (181.207 mph), and Chase Elliott was fifth fastest (181.178 mph). William Byron was sixth fastest (181.174 mph).
Austin Dillon was seventh fastest (181.068 mph), and Richard Childress Racing teammate Kyle Busch was eighth fastest (180.995 mph). Ross Chastain was ninth fastest (180.883 mph), and Harrison Burton was 10th fastest (180.328 mph).
Hendrick Motorsports’ qualifying dominance came to an end on Wednesday. The organization had won eight of the last nine poles for the Daytona 500.
Wednesday night’s session assured Logano and McDowell of their starting spots for the race. Thursday night will determine the rest of the 40-car field after the two Bluegreen Vacations Duel races.
Anthony Alfredo and David Ragan know they will race in the Daytona 500, but their starting positions are to be determined. Alfredo and Ragan were the fastest non-chartered (or open) teams to lock into the Daytona 500 on their qualifying speed.
Wednesday night, six drivers were vying for the two spots guaranteed on speed. The other four (Jimmie Johnson, BJ McLeod, JJ Yeley and Kaz Grala) will go into the Thursday night duel races looking for one of the two remaining spots.
Grala did not post a qualifying lap. Although he drove the No. 36 Mustang off pit road, a mechanical issue kept Grala from getting up to speed.
It’ll be the second start for Alfredo in the Daytona 500, who is competing with Beard Motorsports in the No. 62 Chevrolet. Alfredo was the fastest non-chartered driver at 179.648 mph (50.098 seconds).
Beard Motorsports has qualified for the Daytona 500 in seven of its eight attempts. Alfredo is the third driver who has competed in the event for them.
“I wasn’t anticipating that kind of feeling,” Alfredo said. “Linda [Beard] did tell me this weekend that racing in the Daytona 500 is a moment and a feeling unlike any other. I definitely experienced that today. I have raced in the Daytona 500 in 2021; that was during the pandemic. It was super weird. There was no media day, there weren’t many fans, we didn’t get to engage with many people. We didn’t have the hype and camaraderie around it. I don’t think I really got to truly appreciate what this event means from a driver’s perspective.
“I sat in the stands many times certainly as a kid growing up dreaming of being a driver with the opportunity to compete in this race. To be here is a dream come true in a way, but this is obviously only the first step. (We’ve) still got the big race on Sunday. I’m really thankful to be able to deliver for the Beard family because they’ve been nothing but a pleasure to get to know. I’m truly honored to be the one behind the wheel. We have an awesome sponsor in Death Wish Coffee that is here in full support. We wanted to go race for 500 miles on Sunday with them.”
Ragan is in a third RFK Racing entry, the No. 60 Ford. The two-time Cup Series winner will start his 17th Daytona 500.
“Initially, I thought, ‘Man, we’re cutting this way too close,’” Ragan said. “I felt like we’d have a really fast race car and we do, but I really wasn’t expecting that lap from Anthony [Alfredo]. That was a great lap for him and that team, so congratulations to those guys. But I didn’t have a chance to beat Jimmie Johnson too often in my career when he and I were running week in and week out, so I’ll take the small victories when I can.
“That just shows how close the competition is. All these teams work really hard on all the details, and every 10th and half of a 10th mean something and so to be able to get locked in on pole night is really special. We’ve still got a lot of work in front of us to have some speed to go contend for a win, but I couldn’t be more proud of the RFK team for the effort so far.”