Chase Briscoe takes Daytona 500 pole, grid to be announced tomorrow

Chase Briscoe beat the Ford of Austin Cindric, winner of the event in 2022, by 76 thousandths of a second. The two men are the only ones who know their starting grid positions for Sunday's race (start given around 20:30 p.m., French time), as is tradition. The other positions on the grid will be determined by two qualifying races that will be held during the night from Thursday to Friday.

“Honestly, they’ve done so much, it’s hard to do something for the first time with Toyota », Briscoe explained at a press conference. “Yeah, to be able to do it in my first race (with Toyota. Ed.), it’s super cool, super special. It means a lot to Toyota. Tyler Gibbs and everybody who came up to me after, you could see in their eyes how much it meant to them. Even for Joe Gibbs (team boss. Ed.), it’s his second time on pole at the Daytona 500. It’s really cool and special to be able to do that.”

In addition to the 36 franchisees who have qualified for all races this season, three drivers have already guaranteed their place in the Daytona 500 field. Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota) and Jimmie Johnson (Toyota) were the two fastest non-qualifiers and will therefore be in the field no matter what happens in the qualifying races. Helio Castroneves (Chevrolet) will have a guaranteed place if he fails to qualify for Thursday's races, his Trackhouse team being the only one to have sent an application for a new feature for this 2025 season, the "Open Exemption Provisional". The latter allows a driver coming from another horizon to have a guaranteed place when he comes to compete in a race of NASCARThe peloton could therefore include 41 drivers, instead of the usual 40.

Tonight, the drivers who set a time that puts them in an odd-numbered spot on the list will start in the first qualifying race, the others in the second. The order of arrival in Race 1 will determine the odd-numbered spots on the starting grid, behind Briscoe who secured the pole position, Race 2 will determine the even-numbered spots, behind Austin Cindric. Among the drivers who have not yet qualified, the highest finisher in each qualifying race earns a spot in the Daytona 500, the others are then eliminated.

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