Kyle Busch takes pole position for the Daytona 500

At 40 years old and on his 21st attempt, Kyle Busch finally qualified for the pole position for the Daytona 500. Busch recorded 183.651 mph at Daytona International Speedway this Wednesday, just 0.064 mph faster than Chase Briscoe from Joe Gibbs Racing, who will start second for the second consecutive year on the front row. The statistic weighs on Busch and the No. 8 of Richard Childress Racing: no driver has won the Daytona 500 with more than 20 prior attempts, and Dale Earnhardt needed exactly 20 starts to secure his only victory in this race in 1998, driving for the same team that now employs Busch.

"Here on a Wednesday night, to be able to qualify for my first pole for the Daytona 500 is something special," said Busch, who has 35 poles in 751 Cup Series races, the second-best figure among active drivers. "It would be really nice to be doing an interview like this about being number one on Sunday night." This is just his second pole in 42 starts at Daytona International Speedway. Busch hasn't won in the Cup Series since the Enjoy Illinois 300 of 2023 at Gateway, his 63rd victory, and has gone through the entire 2024 and 2025 seasons without a win. This 2026 pole is his first standout result since he qualified first at Dover in April 2024 for the Würth 400.

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Briscoe was the poleman in 2025 and now repeats on the front row with 183.587 mph in the No. 19. "It's great to be able to do it two years in a row," said Briscoe. "Every week when I get in the car, I know I'm in possibly the best car. When we come here and do things like we've done two consecutive years, that validates it." Ryan Preece qualified third in the No. 60 for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, and Denny Hamlin finished fourth seeking his fourth Daytona 500 victory, the first since 2020.

Corey Heim and Justin Allgaier qualified for the Daytona 500 as the two fastest open cars on Wednesday, guaranteeing their spots in the 41-car grid. Heim, the 2025 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion, will make his debut in the Great American Race with the No. 67 for 23XI Racing and was the only open car to advance to the final 10-car round. "As soon as we knew that all the cars would be out in the second round except for us, that was the final solidifying factor," explained Heim, who impressed the 23XI team with his performance in the team's fourth car.

Allgaier, the 2024 Xfinity Series champion, returns to the No. 40 for JR Motorsports and edged out Corey LaJoie by just 0.004 seconds to secure the second open car spot, a minimal difference that guaranteed his second consecutive Daytona 500 start. Allgaier finished ninth in his 2025 debut and now has the advantage of being able to work on his car during Thursday's Duels without the pressure of having to qualify. "I can go through the Duels and work on the car in a completely different way, which allows us to go into the 500 and truly feel like we're competing for a win," said Allgaier, whose team is owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller.

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The remaining 37 drivers will determine their positions in Thursday's Daytona Duels at 7 p.m. ET, where the 41-car grid will be completed with Jimmie Johnson receiving a provisional to expand the grid from the original 40 spots. Noah Gragson will have to start last in his Duel as NASCAR disqualified his lap for using his hand to affect airflow, violating a new 2026 rule that Gragson admitted he completely forgot. The Daytona 500 starts Sunday, February 14 at 2:30 p.m. ET, with Busch seeking to reverse two years of frustrations in NASCAR's most important race.