NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Busch put on an impressive performance in qualifying on Wednesday night to take the pole for the 2026 Daytona 500.
Busch has never won The Great American Race and has only ever taken one superspeedway pole, but was fastest in both rounds of qualifying at Daytona International Speedway, his lap time of 49.006secs in round two enough to beat Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe by 0.017secs.
It isn't all bad for Briscoe, though, as he will also start Sunday's Daytona 500 on the front row alongside Busch.
Elsewhere, Ryan Preece, Denny Hamlin and Daytona 500 debutant Corey Heim rounded out the top five, with the latter qualifying much faster than all three of his 23XI teammates. Meanwhile, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano all made the top 10.
Crucially, however, only Busch and Briscoe's spot for Sunday's start is locked in, with the remaining rows set to be determined by Thursday night's Daytona Duels (7pm & 8:45pm ET, FS1).
The other significant thing to happen during qualifying came early on in round one when Front Row Motorsports' Noah Gragson had his lap time disqualified after using his hand to obstruct the airflow coming into his No. 4 Ford during his hot lap.
NASCAR updated its rule book last week and outlawed doing so, and as a result, Gragson was punished.
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NASCAR Cup Series: Who is on pole for the Daytona 500?
Here are the full qualifying results from rounds one and two at Daytona International Speedway.
Round Two results
| Pos | Driver (Car No.) | Team (Manufacturer) | Lap Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Busch (#8) | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) | 49.006 secs |
| 2 | Chase Briscoe (#19) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.017 secs |
| 3 | Ryan Preece (#60) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.055 secs |
| 4 | Denny Hamlin (#11) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.094 secs |
| 5 | Corey Heim (#67) | 23XI Racing (Toyota, open/non-chartered) | +0.142 secs |
| 6 | Alex Bowman (#48) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.146 secs |
| 7 | Kyle Larson (#5) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.152 secs |
| 8 | Chris Buescher (#17) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.178 secs |
| 9 | Chase Elliott (#9) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.214 secs |
| 10 | Joey Logano (#22) | Team Penske (Ford) | +0.269 secs |
Round One results
| Pos | Driver (Car No.) | Team (Manufacturer) | Lap Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Busch (#8) | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) | 48.933 secs |
| 2 | Chase Briscoe (#19) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.101 secs |
| 3 | Ryan Preece (#60) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.148 secs |
| 4 | Denny Hamlin (#11) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.173 secs |
| 5 | Alex Bowman (#48) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.184 secs |
| 6 | Kyle Larson (#5) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.188 secs |
| 7 | Corey Heim (#67) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +0.205 secs |
| 8 | Chris Buescher (#17) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.235 secs |
| 9 | Chase Elliott (#9) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.237 secs |
| 10 | Joey Logano (#22) | Team Penske (Ford) | +0.239 secs |
| 11 | Ty Gibbs (#54) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.251 secs |
| 12 | Austin Dillon (#3) | Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.252 secs |
| 13 | Christopher Bell (#20) | Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) | +0.264 secs |
| 14 | Justin Allgaier (#40) | JR Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.268 secs |
| 15 | Corey LaJoie (#199) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.272 secs |
| 16 | John Hunter Nemechek (#42) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) | +0.281 secs |
| 17 | Austin Cindric (#2) | Team Penske (Ford) | +0.315 secs |
| 18 | Brad Keselowski (#6) | RFK Racing (Ford) | +0.319 secs |
| 19 | Zane Smith (#38) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +0.333 secs |
| 20 | Ryan Blaney (#12) | Team Penske (Ford) | +0.336 secs |
| 21 | Michael McDowell (#71) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.347 secs |
| 22 | William Byron (#24) | Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.349 secs |
| 23 | Connor Zilisch (#88) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.358 secs |
| 24 | Cole Custer (#41) | Haas Factory Team (Chevrolet) | +0.389 secs |
| 25 | Erik Jones (#43) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) | +0.399 secs |
| 26 | Cody Ware (#51) | Rick Ware Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.417 secs |
| 27 | Josh Berry (#21) | Wood Brothers Racing (Ford) | +0.421 secs |
| 28 | Jimmie Johnson (#84) | Legacy Motor Club (Toyota) | +0.433 secs |
| 29 | Carson Hocevar (#77) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.494 secs |
| 30 | Bubba Wallace (#23) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +0.499 secs |
| 31 | Riley Herbst (#35) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +0.519 secs |
| 32 | AJ Allmendinger (#16) | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.527 secs |
| 33 | Todd Gilliland (#34) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +0.527 secs |
| 34 | Ross Chastain (#1) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.550 secs |
| 35 | Anthony Alfredo (#62) | Beard Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.552 secs |
| 36 | Ty Dillon (#10) | Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.564 secs |
| 37 | Shane Van Gisbergen (#97) | Trackhouse Racing (Chevrolet) | +0.594 secs |
| 38 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (#47) | Hyak Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.596 secs |
| 39 | Daniel Suárez (#7) | Spire Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +0.619 secs |
| 40 | Tyler Reddick (#45) | 23XI Racing (Toyota) | +0.676 secs |
| 41 | Chandler Smith (#36) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | +0.825 secs |
| 42 | BJ McLeod (#78) | Live Fast Motorsports (Chevrolet) | +1.078 secs |
| 43 | Casey Mears (#66) | Garage 66 (Ford) | +1.300 secs |
| 44 | JJ Yeley (#44) | NY Racing Team (Chevrolet) | +1.549 secs |
| 45 | Noah Gragson (#4) | Front Row Motorsports (Ford) | DSQ |
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