DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Floridian Ross Chastain claimed his first Busch Light Pole position of the season — and third of his career — delivering a clutch effort Friday evening at Daytona International Speedway.
The 33-year-old from Alva, Fla. — whose crew chief Brandon McSwain is from Auburndale, Fla. — dramatically claimed the top starting spot for Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale — delivering a best lap of 184.396 mph in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. The effort bettered Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Ford by .051 of a second.
It’s the best start on the 2.5-mile-high banks for Chastain in 16 previous races at the iconic track and his first series pole position since the Watkins Glen, N.Y., road course race in 2023. Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney won this race from pole position last year — the first to do it in any Daytona NASCAR Cup Series race since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2015.
“It’s almost indescribable,” Chastain said, noting he fully realizes starting position in these close-quarter races at Daytona don’t always translate into a trophy.
“But tonight and today for a new package, for Trackhouse to pick the right package and execute through two rounds. … it’s very important to note we chose the right things as a team,” said Chastain, whose Trackhouse team advanced all three Chevrolets into the 10-car field qualifying round.
“Life achievement,” Chastain said of the accomplishment. “I was a kid sitting in the grandstands and we camped outside Turn 1. … It’s a big deal, a life achievement and a moment I’ll never forget.”
“Just incredible,” he added. “All the cars were bouncing, all the cars were not driving well, and we made ours go faster not driving well.
All three of the drivers most closely vying for the final two Chase positions advanced to the second round of qualifying.
Buescher’s RFK teammate Ryan Preece was fastest in the opening round of qualifying and ended up fourth on the grid in the No. 60 RFK Ford — his best start of the season.
It’s important momentum considering Preece is 17th in the championship standings — 44 points off Team Penske’s Austin Cindric and 31 points behind Chastain’s Trackhouse teammate, Shane Van Gisbergen — the two holding onto 15th and 16th in the standings heading to Saturday’s green flag.
The top 16 drivers in the standings will advance to the 10-race Chase to decide the 2026 season champion, which gets underway next weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
“I think having a good starting spot gives us an opportunity to learn about our car, but also still have a very reasonable shot at some good points,” said Cindric, who will roll off seventh. “That first stage is super short, so that’s giving us a chance to start checking boxes early in the race.”
Said Preece of his strong qualifying showing, “I wanted the pole. Fourth is great, but not what I wanted. The good thing is we have a fast Ford Mustang, and we’ll race the hell out of them tomorrow.”
Driving the car that the late Kyle Busch drove to pole position for this year’s Daytona 500, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill will start third in the No. 33 RCR Chevrolet, alongside Preece.
It was 23XI Racing’s Riley Herbst who led for most of opening session of qualifying, sitting atop the speed chart until Preece claimed the spot with only nine drivers remaining. The driver of the No. 35 Toyota — the only Toyota to advance to the final session — will start fifth.
Van Gisbergen will roll of sixth in the No. 97 Trackhouse Chevrolet, his rookie teammate Connor Zilisch in the No. 88 Trackhouse Chevrolet seventh best in the session, his fourth top-10 start of the season.
Team Penske teammates Cindric and three-time series champion Joey Logano will start their Fords eighth and ninth with Hendrick Motorsports’ driver and reigning series champion Kyle Larson rolling off 10th in the No. 5 Hendrick Chevrolet.
Daytona has historically presented a long list of race champions — nine different drivers have won the last 11 races at the speedway. There have been seven different winners in the last eight summer races here.
Of note, none of the top four drivers in the points standings advanced to the second round of qualifying. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who clinched the No. 1 seed in the Chase last week, was only 30th fastest in the No. 11 JGR Toyota.
Last week’s New Hampshire race winner, and defending Daytona race winner, Penske’s Ryan Blaney — who sits second in the points — was 19th quickest.
Hamlin’s JGR teammate Ty Gibbs, who is third in the standings, will start his No. 54 Toyota from the 14th position on the grid. And 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who is fourth in the championship, will start his No. 45 Toyota 17th.
Forty drivers will take the green flag Saturday. Gray Gaulding was the only entrant that did not qualify. It would have been his first NASCAR Cup Series start since 2023.
