Qualifying report NASCAR Cup Daytona II NASCAR Cup Daytona starting lineup: Ross Chastain wins pole position Chastain and Buescher will start on the front row for Saturday's NASCAR Cup race at Daytona International Speedway Nick DeGroot Edited: Aug 29, 2026, 9:07 PM Copy link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp Share on Linkedin Share on Pinterest Share on Viber Add as a preferred source With a 48.809s (184.396mph) lap, Ross Chastain snagged pole position at Daytona International Speedway in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. He will share the front row with Chris Buescher in the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford, who trailed Chastain by 0.051s in the final round of qualifying. "I'm not sure that we expected that leaving the shop, to be honest," said Chastain, who previously won poles at Nashville (2023) and Watkins Glen (2024). You're always trying to be efficient -- you're trying to have the least amount of drag when you're coming to Daytona. And you're trying to put the most grip into it with this new package. Hats off to Trackhouse, ECR. To have our (engine) issues last week, and come right back and redeem all that ... it's a Busch Light pole award, and as a Busch Light driver, this means a lot." Watch: Chastain wins Daytona pole: 'Not sure that we expected that' Austin Hill will start third in his career-best qualifying result, while Chase hopeful Ryan Preece starts fourth, and Riley Herbst fifth. Shane van Gisbergen , who enters this race with the 16th and final Chase spot, starts sixth, followed by Connor Zilisch in seventh, so all three Trackhouse cars are starting inside the top ten. Austin Cindric starts eighth, Joey Logano ninth, and Kyle Larson tenth. Round 1 Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Photo by: Chris Graythen - Getty Images For just the third time this season, a driver and team failed to qualify for the event as 41 cars entered the Daytona Cup race, with 40 available spots on the grid. There were five open cars vying for those final four positions alongside the 36 chartered teams. Casey Mears (No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet), Daniel Dye (No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet, Joey Gase (No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet), and Corey Heim (No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota) all made the show. Gase was the last to make it, making the show by 0.125s. Heim was the highest-qualifying open driver, as he will start 11th on the grid. An unfortunate DNQ for a driver who failed to make the show was Gray Gaulding in the No. 66 'Garage 66' Ford, who bottomed out heavily in Turns 1/2. The rear diffuser didn't appear to be properly secured. Gaulding was attempting to make his first Cup start in three years. Herbst set the early benchmark, leading halfway through the session with a 48.949s lap. As the final ten cars went out on track, Preece eclipsed Herbst with a 48.897s lap as he tries to fight his way into the Chase. Logano was the final driver to advance into the second round, beating Heim by just 0.004s. Weirdly, NASCAR's caution lights briefly came on during Ty Gibbs' lap, so series officials allowed him to cool the car down and take another qualifying run. He was 21st on his first run, but ended up 14th on his second attempt. Round 2 Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images Preece advanced into the pole round of qualifying with Herbst, A. Hill, Chastain, Buescher, Zilisch, Van Gisbergen, Cindric, Larson, and Logano. The field went in order from tenth to first, so Preece was the final driver on the track. The laptimes picked up for most cars in the second round, with Logano going P1 with a 49.074s. Cindric then jumped to the top of the carts with a 49.071s, but it didn't last long as Van Gisbergen went fastest of all with a 49.019s. He remained on provisional pole halfway through the session. Buescher then blew SVG's time away with a 48.859s, a full tenth-and-a-half faster, but the bar kept getting raised as Chastain went to the top with a 48.808s. No one could match him, even Preece as he slotted in fourth among the top ten. There were no incidents in qualifying. Of note, Herbst is suffering from "lingering effects" related to last week's heavy crash at New Hampshire, so Harrison Burton will drive his car in the Daytona Cup race. NASCAR Cup Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona starting lineup cla # driver manufacturer time gap mph 1 1 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 48.808 184.396 2 17 Chris Buescher Ford 48.859 0.051 184.204 3 33 Austin Hill Chevrolet 48.863 0.055 184.188 4 60 Ryan Preece Ford 48.881 0.073 184.121 5 35 Riley Herbst (Harrison Burton will race the #35) Toyota 48.976 0.168 183.763 6 97 Shane van Gisbergen Chevrolet 49.019 0.211 183.602 7 88 Connor Zilisch Chevrolet 49.020 0.212 183.599 8 2 Austin Cindric Ford 49.071 0.263 183.408 9 22 Joey Logano Ford 49.074 0.266 183.397 10 5 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 49.082 0.274 183.367 11 67 Corey Heim Toyota 49.101 0.293 183.296 12 19 Chase Briscoe Toyota 49.104 0.296 183.284 13 24 William Byron Chevrolet 49.117 0.309 183.236 14 54 Ty Gibbs Toyota 49.123 0.315 183.214 15 43 Erik Jones Toyota 49.140 0.332 183.150 16 41 Cole Custer Chevrolet 49.144 0.336 183.135 17 45 Tyler Reddick Toyota 49.145 0.337 183.132 18 71 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 49.149 0.341 183.117 19 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 49.154 0.346 183.098 20 48 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 49.176 0.368 183.016 21 6 Brad Keselowski Ford 49.204 0.396 182.912 22 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 49.232 0.424 182.808 23 7 Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 49.240 0.432 182.778 24 21 Josh Berry Ford 49.282 0.474 182.622 25 51 Cody Ware Chevrolet 49.302 0.494 182.548 26 23 Darrell Wallace Jr Toyota 49.330 0.522 182.445 27 42 John Hunter Nemechek Toyota 49.335 0.527 182.426 28 77 Carson Hocevar Chevrolet 49.336 0.528 182.423 29 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 49.343 0.535 182.397 30 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 49.360 0.552 182.334 31 10 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 49.361 0.553 182.330 32 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet 49.375 0.567 182.278 33 34 Todd Gilliland Ford 49.388 0.580 182.231 34 38 Zane Smith Ford 49.402 0.594 182.179 35 16 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 49.485 0.677 181.873 36 20 Christopher Bell Toyota 49.485 0.677 181.873 37 4 Noah Gragson Ford 49.500 0.692 181.818 38 62 Casey Mears Chevrolet 49.520 0.712 181.745 39 78 Daniel Dye Chevrolet 49.555 0.747 181.616 40 44 Joey Gase Chevrolet 49.933 1.125 180.242 DNQ 66 Gray Gaulding Ford 50.058 1.250 179.791 Photos from Daytona II - Friday Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos Daytona II - Friday, in photos NASCAR Cup 54 We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Motorsport.com? Take our 5 minute survey. - The Motorsport.com Team Read and post comments Read also : Share Or Save This Story Copy link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp Share on Linkedin Share on Pinterest Share on Viber Previous article NASCAR drivers looking to the 'speedway gods' for help at Daytona Next article Daytona Cup pole is a special "life achievement" for Florida native Ross Chastain Top Comments There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one? View More & Comment
Curated by Taleb Kabbara · Source: www.motorsport.com