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Daytona International Speedway (Daytona Beach, Fla.) — Kyle Busch — who entered the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season desperate for a win in any race and seeking his first Daytona 500 in his 21st start — will lead the field to green Sunday from the pole thanks to posting the fastest lap in single-car qualifying Wednesday. It’s the first Daytona 500 pole for the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driver.
Busch will be joined on the front row by last year’s pole-sitter, Chase Briscoe. Also happy following qualifying: Corey Heim and Justin Allgaier locked themselves into the 2026 Daytona 500 field; the final two spots and the full Daytona 500 starting order will be set in the “duels” qualifying races Thursday at Daytona International Speedway.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Kyle Busch Has Historic Shot
Busch, a two-time Cup champion riding a 93-race winless streak, has led 342 laps over his career in the Daytona 500, the most laps led by a driver who has never won the sport’s biggest race.
No driver has ever earned his first Daytona 500 win later than his 20th start — Dale Earnhardt did it in 1998 — so Busch has a chance at history.
“It’s a box we’ve got to check,” Busch said in his post-qualifying news conference. “So here we are. This is an opportunity to be able to do that. I’ve come down here a lot of years, and I think I finished in about every position possible.
“It’d be nice to close out [that streak] with a victory right here within the Daytona 500.”
2. Good Begin For New Pairing
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA: NASCAR Corridor of Famer and RCR workforce proprietor, Richard Childress, congratulates Kyle Busch after profitable the 2026 Daytona 500 pole on February 11, 2026. (Photograph by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Photographs)
For Busch, this shall be a lift for him and new crew chief Jim Pohlman, who spent the previous couple of years as crew chief for Justin Allgaier within the O’Reilly Sequence, the place they received the 2024 sequence title.
Busch has stated the important thing for Pohlman is preserving individuals accountable. Bringing quick vehicles to the observe might help, too.
“Only a valiant effort by everyone right here,” Busch stated in his post-qualifying interview with FOX Sports activities’ Jamie Little. “It could be very nice to be doing an interview like this about being No. 1 come Sunday evening.”
[NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson on Living Abroad, His Daytona 500 Future]
3. Huge Reduction and Pleasure For Heim and Allgaier
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA: Justin Allgaier, driver of the #40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, earlier than Daytona 500 follow. (Photograph by Jeff Curry/Getty Photographs)
Corey Heim and Justin Allgaier had been the 2 quickest vehicles not already locked into the Daytona 500 discipline, in order that they earned spots in Sunday’s race. For each, it was an emotional second.
Heim didn’t make the Cup race final yr on the Chicago road course, and right here, he was making an attempt to make the Daytona 500, the place there have been extra vehicles entered than spots, in his first race since then. He left no query, qualifying fifth general.
“After that Chicago race, everybody actually caught behind me and understood that I am a growing race automotive driver, and I am going to make these errors,” stated Heim, who received 12 truck races final yr on his approach to the sequence title, in his post-qualifying information convention. “They labored their tails off to convey me an ideal Daytona 500 automotive. Tremendous cool feeling to have that help.”
Allgaier drives for JR Motorsports, and having an proprietor (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) who’s arguably the most well-liked particular person within the sport brings with it its personal strain. Final yr, Allgaier needed to race his approach in via the duels for JRM to make its first Cup race. This yr’s Daytona 500 is the group’s second.
[DAYTONA 500: Everything To Know About Daytona 500]
4. Second Duel Huge Alternative
(Photograph by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire through Getty Photographs)
Six drivers will vie for the ultimate two spots within the Daytona 500 with the highest driver not already within the race who finishes one of the best in every of the 2 qualifying races (“the duels”) incomes a spot. The vehicles trying to make the Daytona 500 discipline are cut up within the two duels based mostly on qualifying time, placing each Corey LaJoie and Chandler Smith — from two established organizations (RFK Racing and Entrance Row Motorsports) — within the first duel, together with Casey Mears.
The second duel has three drivers from part-time single-car groups: Beard Motorsports’ Anthony Alfredo, Stay Quick Motorsports’ B.J. McLeod and NY Racing’s JJ Yeley. If LaJoie and Smith had been cut up between the 2 duels, they’d be the favorites to earn a Daytona 500 spot.
“The issue is if you’re racing in these duels, it is the uncontrollable that you simply’re apprehensive about, the unexpected circumstances, whether or not it is the technique or an accident or any of these issues,” Alfredo instructed me.
“As a workforce, we all know what we have to do to execute and finally management, however there’s lots of issues you may’t in speedway racing or any racing for that matter.”
4 ½: What’s Subsequent
The 2 60-lap qualifying duels Thursday evening (7 p.m. ET, FS1). Drivers will be taught probably the most about their vehicles for the Daytona 500 — and hope to not crash, relegating them to the rear.
The opposite key’s the duels pay factors on a 10-to-1 scale for these ending first to tenth. With the brand new factors system this yr, a 10-race postseason and bonus factors based mostly strictly on regular-season standings positions, these factors from the duels might imply extra.
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