DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Qualifying for the Daytona 500 wrapped Wednesday evening, and the front row was officially decided. Joey Logano will start on the pole, with Michael McDowell starting second.
Logano has started in the top five for the Daytona 500 six times in his career, but this will be his first time rolling off on the front row. He won the race in 2015, and is the defending runner-up; 2023 champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. edged out Logano as the caution flag flew in last year's event.
McDowell has never started in the top five for the Daytona 500, but like Logano, has finished first in the race before. McDowell won the 2021 event after then-teammates Logano and Brad Keselowski crashed in front of him on the final lap.
The front row of the Great American Race will be all-Ford for the first since 2012, when Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle took the top two spots. That's also the last time any car other than Chevrolet won the pole position. Hendrick Motorsports ended a streak of having at least one car on the front row every year since 2014, including five straight poles from 2015 to 2019. Even still, their cars won the Daytona 500 in 2014 and 2013.
“This is all about the team,” Logano said. “I’d like to take credit, but I can’t today. The guys have done such an amazing job working on these cars. Speedway qualifying is 100 percent the car."
Logano's pole-winning lap was timed at 49.465 seconds, with an average speed of 181.947 miles per hour. McDowell was scored 0.261 seconds behind - it may seem like a fraction of the blink of an eye, but in NASCAR nomenclature it represents a commanding advantage for Logano.
“There’s only so much a driver can do, so I’m really proud of them," Logano continued. "It’s a big win for our team…finally, someone else wins the pole - that part feels good. I’ve never even been close to a superspeedway pole before, so my first pole on a speedway couldn’t be at a cooler event than the Daytona 500.”
The remaining starting spots in the field will be determined in Thursday night's Bluegreen Vacations Duels. The finishing order from Duel #1 will comprise the inside row, and the order from Duel #2 will make up the outside.
David Ragan and Anthony Alfredo secured their Daytona 500 starting spots on Wednesday, while the last two remaining spots will go to two of Jimmie Johnson, Kaz Grala, J.J. Yeley, and B.J. McLeod.
