{"id":55964,"date":"2026-02-11T22:44:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T04:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=55964"},"modified":"2026-02-13T05:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T11:55:08","slug":"kyle-busch-wins-pole-for-sundays-daytona-500","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/kyle-busch-wins-pole-for-sundays-daytona-500\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Busch wins pole for Sunday’s Daytona 500"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet, poses for a photo during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

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By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kyle Busch delivered the best Daytona 500 qualifying effort of his championship NASCAR career Wednesday night at Daytona International Speedway, claiming his first ever pole position for the Great American Race (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

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Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet, poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Busch\u2019s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was quickest in first round qualifying and answered the work resoundingly with an even faster lap (183.651 mph) in the 10-car final round – besting Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Chase Briscoe by only .064-mph to set the front row.<\/p>\n

Busch, 40, and Briscoe, 31 \u2013 the 2025 Daytona 500 polesitter \u2013 locked into the 41-car field along with 23XI Racing\u2019s Corey Heim and JR Motorsports\u2019 Justin Allgaier, who claimed the two open positions up for grabs Wednesday. The remainder of the field will be settled in Thursday night\u2019s America 250 Florida Duel at Daytona races (7 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with the 500 starting positions based on the Duels\u2019 finishing order.<\/p>\n

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Pole Award winner, Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet, (R) and Front Row winner, Chase Briscoe, driver of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, pose for photos after qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

This will mark Busch\u2019s 21st start in the Daytona 500 \u2013 and no previous driver has won the race with more than 20 starts.\u00a0 The late NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt scored his only DAYTONA 500 victory in his 20th start for Busch\u2019s team owner, NASCAR Hall of Famer Childress.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, here on a Wednesday night, being able to qualify on my first pole for the Daytona 500, that’s pretty special.,\u2019\u2019 said a grinning Busch. \u201cI’ve had one other speedway pole down here in Daytona for the summer race. This feels good. Feels really good for RCR as a group.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a valiant effort by everybody here,\u2019\u2019 the two-time series champion added. \u201cIt would be really nice to be doing an interview like this about being No. 1 come Sunday night.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet, speaks to the media after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Patrick McDermott\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Briscoe was obviously encouraged by his showing as well, noting with a laugh that more typically it\u2019s the Hendrick Motorsports team that has dominated Daytona 500 front row qualifying in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s cool for sure to be able to consistently two years in a row now,\u2019\u2019 said Briscoe, who drives the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. \u201cIt’s really a testament to the folks back at JGR. We’ve made so many improvements on our superspeedway program. This race really comes down to, at least in qualifying, attention to detail, just doing every little thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 19 group has consistently kind of been the best one. That’s really exciting for us. Just a lot of pride in that, right? I know for me, every week when I get in the car, I know I’m in arguably the best car every single week. When we come here and do stuff like we’ve done two years in a row validates that.<\/p>\n

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Kyle Busch, driver of the #8 zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet, speaks to the media during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt’s the kid in me. .. being in the front row, for two years in a row at the Daytona 500. It’s a really big deal.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

It was certainly a thrilling start to the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series points season, the qualifying session featured a great battle among all three series manufacturers \u2013 with four Chevrolets, three Fords and three Toyotas making up the final round. Nine of the 10 cars that advanced bettered the pole speed from a year ago.<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s Clash preseason-opening race winner Ryan Preece was third fastest in the No. 60 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford with three-time Daytona 500 winner, Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Denny Hamlin fourth quickest followed by Heim, the only one of eight \u201copen\u201d cars to make the 10-car final round.<\/p>\n

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Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #84 Carvana Toyota, (C) shares a laugh with NASCAR Fox reporters, Josh Sims (L) and Jamie McMurray during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cJust kind of nerve-wracking for sure to say the least,\u2019\u2019 the 2025 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champion Heim conceded of earning his first ever Daytona 500 start in the No. 67 23XI Racing Toyota.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as soon as we knew all cars would be out in the second round except for us, that’s kind of the final solidifying factor. I thought for a minute, three of us were going to be in the final round and we were going to have to race it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo impressed and thank you for 23XI Racing and Toyota coming here with an open car and a fourth team at 23XI. To be able to do that is pretty impressive even from my eyes. I feel like that’s a very big accomplishment from those guys. Just blessed to be a part of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Crew members push the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, driven by Chase Elliott on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The veteran Allgaier \u2013 the 2024 champion and a current fulltime competitor in the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series – is making his second consecutive start in the No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, owned by two-time DAYTONA 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller. Allgaier\u2019s qualifying time bettered the open car driven by Corey LaJoie by only a slight .004-second to claim that second guaranteed entry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought there would be less stress but I felt like for me, the stress level actually went up compared to last year with what we are able to accomplish,\u2019\u2019 said Allgaier, who finished ninth last year in the team\u2019s inaugural DAYTONA start.<\/p>\n

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Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 Red Bull Chevrolet, drives through the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 11, 2026 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cYou feel like you\u2019ll come back in a lot better capacity and we did, that was a great qualifying effort, just short of the top-10,\u2019\u2019 he said of the car\u2019s 14th place showing Wednesday night among the 45 car field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think last year we made it so exciting on Thursday, it was really cool and it was special,\u2019\u2019 Allgaier said of having to race for a position in the 2025 DAYTONA 500 in the Duels. \u201cBut I feel like this year, I can go through the Duels and work on the car in a far different capacity and allows us to go to the 500 and really feel like we\u2019re competing for a win and competing for a great position. It\u2019s just different and I\u2019m really proud of this team.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

His grinning team owner Earnhardt conceded, \u201cIt is stressful but that\u2019s the best part about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of note, Front Row Motorsports driver Noah Gragson had his qualifying lap disallowed after he used his hand to affect airflow, violating a new NASCAR rule that took effect this year. He\u2019ll start last in his Duel race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI completely forgot about that rule,\u2019\u2019 Gragson said, \u201cThat one\u2019s on me.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kyle Busch delivered the best Daytona 500 qualifying effort of his championship NASCAR career Wednesday night at Daytona International Speedway, claiming his first ever pole position for the Great American Race (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Busch\u2019s No. 8 Richard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":55972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[42,287,59,16],"class_list":["post-55964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-daytona-500","tag-daytona-international-speedway","tag-kyle-busch","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2261164931-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-eyE","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55964"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55976,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55964\/revisions\/55976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}