Kyle Busch and RCR win pole position for the 2026 Daytona 500

Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green flag for the 68th running of the Daytona, lapping the 2.5-mile superspeedway in 49.006s (183.651mph) to win pole position. He will share the front row with Chase Briscoe in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. 

This will be Busch's 21st start in the Daytona 500 -- a race he has never won before -- and this will be the two-time Cup champion's fist pole in The Great American Race as well. He eclipsed Briscoe by 0.016s in the final round of qualifying, and also led both rounds of qualifying.

For RCR, this is their seventh pole in the Daytona 500, and the team's first since Austin Dillon earned pole in the 500 to kick-off the 2014 season.

Kyle Busch and Richard Childress after winning pole position for the 2026 Daytona 500 (Photo by: Kevin C. Cox via Getty Images)

"Certainly, here on Wednesday night, being able to qualify on my first pole for the Daytona 500, that's pretty special," said Busch, who is working with a brand new crew chief this year (Jim Pohlman). "I'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. Everybody from ECR (Engines), thanks to Bob (Fisher, Senior Vice President of ECR Engines), and his whole team there. Thanks to zone Nicotine Pouches being on board for us. Maybe it was the flames that brought us all the speed and heat we needed for tonight. But also Lucas Oil, obviously their fuel treatments and oil treatments, everything that we run in this race car to give us the speed we need to be up front.

"Just a valiant effort by everybody here. It would be really nice to be doing an interview like this about being No. 1 come Sunday night."

Bowman Gray Clash winner Ryan Preece qualified third, Denny Hamlin fourth, and Corey Heim impressed everyone as he qualified fifth in his first-ever Daytona 500 attempt.

Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, and Joey Logano filled out the remainder of the top ten.

The field will now be split in half for the Duel qualifying races, where the rest of the final starting positions behind the front row will be decided. Busch will lead the field to the green flag in Duel #1 with Preece beside him, while Briscoe will lead the field to the green flag in Duel #2 with Hamlin beside him.

In the first round of qualifying, Busch was the only driver to dip into the 48-second bracket, nearly reaching a 184mph lap average. Logano was the final driver to advance into the pole-deciding round, while Ty Gibbs was the first driver to miss out on advancing, falling just 0.011 shy of making it into Round 2.

A new rule for 2026 is that drivers cannot put their hands against the opening in the window to deflect air during qualifying, but Noah Gragson forgot about that, and got his qualifying time disallowed as a result. He later called himself an 'idiot' for the brain lapse, but he wasn't too concerned as it's fairly easy to move back-and-forth through the field at superspeedways.

Heim and Allgaier lock themselves into the field

Justin Allgaier, No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet (Photo by: Kevin C. Cox via Getty Images)

As for the open entries, Reigning NASCAR Truck Series champion Corey Heim managed to lock himself into the field in a fourth entry for 23XI Racing. It will be his very first appearance in the Daytona 500.

"Yeah, just kind of nerve-wracking for sure to say the least," said Heim, who was the first driver on the track for qualifying. "But 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.

"To cap it off, so 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."

And for the second year in-a-row, JR Motorsports qualified for the 500 with former NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series champion Justin Allgaier, leading to emotional celebrations in the Earnhardt team's pit area.

Allgaier beat LaJoie by just 0.004s for the final locked-in spot in qualifying, leaving LaJoie to fight the amongst the remaining six open entries, who will all be seeking the final two spots on the grid through the Duel qualifying races on Thursday.

"It feels really good," Kelley-Earnhardt Miller told FOX Sports 1 after Allgaier locked into the field. "I don't know about less stress, but it feels really good. We're super proud of Justin."

Added Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "It is a lot of fun. It's such a great sport, and it's so much fun to be a part of it. It's awesome to be able to come down here and try to make your way in. It is stressful, but that's the best part about it."

Daytona 500 Qualifying Results

cla	#	driver	manufacturer	laps	time	gap	int	mph
1	8	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	1	49.006			183.651
2	19	Chase Briscoe	Toyota	1	49.023	0.017	0.017	183.587
3	60	Ryan Preece	Ford	1	49.061	0.055	0.038	183.445
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	1	49.100	0.094	0.039	183.299
5	67	Corey Heim	Toyota	1	49.148	0.142	0.048	183.120
6	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	1	49.152	0.146	0.004	183.105
7	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	1	49.158	0.152	0.006	183.083
8	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	1	49.184	0.178	0.026	182.986
9	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	1	49.220	0.214	0.036	182.852
10	22	Joey Logano	Ford	1	49.275	0.269	0.055	182.648

11	54	Ty Gibbs	Toyota	1	49.184	0.251	0.012	182.986
12	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	1	49.185	0.252	0.001	182.983
13	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	1	49.197	0.264	0.012	182.938
14	40	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	1	49.201	0.268	0.004	182.923
15	99	Corey LaJoie	Ford	1	49.205	0.272	0.004	182.908
16	42	John Hunter Nemechek	Toyota	1	49.214	0.281	0.009	182.875
17	2	Austin Cindric	Ford	1	49.248	0.315	0.034	182.749
18	6	Brad Keselowski	Ford	1	49.252	0.319	0.004	182.734
19	38	Zane Smith	Ford	1	49.266	0.333	0.014	182.682
20	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	1	49.269	0.336	0.003	182.671
21	71	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	1	49.280	0.347	0.011	182.630
22	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	1	49.282	0.349	0.002	182.622
23	88	Connor Zilisch	Chevrolet	1	49.291	0.358	0.009	182.589
24	41	Cole Custer	Ford	1	49.322	0.389	0.031	182.474
25	43	Erik Jones	Toyota	1	49.332	0.399	0.010	182.437
26	51	Cody Ware	Ford	1	49.350	0.417	0.018	182.371
27	21	Josh Berry	Ford	1	49.354	0.421	0.004	182.356
28	84	Jimmie Johnson	Toyota	1	49.366	0.433	0.012	182.312
29	77	Carson Hocevar	Chevrolet	1	49.427	0.494	0.061	182.087
30	23	Darrell Wallace Jr	Toyota	1	49.432	0.499	0.005	182.068
31	35	Riley Herbst	Toyota	1	49.452	0.519	0.020	181.995
32	34	Todd Gilliland	Ford	1	49.460	0.527	0.008	181.965
33	16	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	1	49.460	0.527	0.000	181.965
34	1	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	1	49.483	0.550	0.023	181.881
35	62	Anthony Alfredo	Chevrolet	1	49.485	0.552	0.002	181.873
36	10	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	1	49.497	0.564	0.012	181.829
37	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Chevrolet	1	49.527	0.594	0.030	181.719
38	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	1	49.529	0.596	0.002	181.712
39	7	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	1	49.552	0.619	0.023	181.627
40	45	Tyler Reddick	Toyota	1	49.609	0.676	0.057	181.419
41	36	Chandler Smith	Ford	1	49.758	0.825	0.149	180.875
42	78	BJ McLeod	Chevrolet	1	50.011	1.078	0.253	179.960
43	66	Casey Mears	Ford	1	50.233	1.300	0.222	179.165
44	44	JJ Yeley	Chevrolet	1	50.482	1.549	0.249	178.281
45	4	Noah Gragson	Ford	1

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