Chase Briscoe earns Toyota’s first Daytona 500 pole

Chase Briscoe spoiled Ford's pole position party during the Wednesday night qualifying session for the 67th running of the Daytona 500.

Fastest in both rounds of time trials, Briscoe turned a lap in 49.249 seconds (294,099km/h) to secure the top starting spot for Sunday's race (2.30pm ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM Nascar Radio).

The pole position is the first for a Toyota driver in the Great American Race. Briscoe edged 2022 Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric (293,645km/h) by 0.076 seconds for the top spot on the grid.

Given the race's unique qualifying format, Briscoe, in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, and Cindric are the only two drivers locked into their starting positions for Sunday.

"A great way to start our season," said an ecstatic Briscoe, who earned his third career pole.

"Unbelievable way to start off the year. Unbelievable way to start off with Toyota. To be able to be the guy to deliver them the first anything when they've accomplished so much is pretty cool.

"Can't thank [team owner] Coach Gibbs enough, the entire Joe Gibbs Racing organisation. The whole off season, everybody kept telling me the focus was trying to qualify better at superspeedways. That's something I struggled at last year. For our 19 group to come here and sit on the pole at the biggest race of the year is pretty special."

The rest of the field will be set on Thursday night in the in Duel at Daytona 24km qualifying races, though Martin Truex Jnr and Jimmie Johnson know they will be in the field for Nascar's most prestigious race after posting the two fastest qualifying times among nine drivers of unchartered cars.

Truex qualified 22nd overall and Johnson 29th.

"Definitely a big relief," said Truex, who is driving the first Tricon Garage entry in the Cup Series.

"You never know what can happen in the Duels, they can get crazy, something on pit road can get you in trouble. Great job to all the guys. They worked their butts off on this car.

"They were sweating all afternoon, and luckily, we were able to put a good lap in. All the guys at Tricon and also at JGR, Toyota and TRD. I'm sure it's a big deal for them. Both cars that  locked in are Toyotas. Big night for them and hopefully we can have some fun the rest of the weekend." 

Johnson drove the No 84 Toyota fielded by Legacy Motor Club, the team he co-owns.

"What I went through last year (in the Duels) was so frightening, and I'm glad I don't have to go through it again," Johnson said.

"I certainly respect this process and don't envy the guys who have to race their way in."

In the final round, Ford drivers were second through fifth fastest, with Cindric, Ryan Preece, reigning Nascar Cup Series champion Joey Logano and Josh Berry occupying the respective positions on the speed chart.

Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon (in the fastest Chevrolet), Christopher Bell, Ty Dillon and Kyle Larson were sixth through 10th fastest in the money round.

Briscoe will start from the pole in the first Duel on Thursday, with Cindric leading the field to green in the second qualifying race. Preece will start second in Duel 1, with Logano on the outside of the front row in Duel 2.

Qualifiers in odd-numbered positions fill the field behind the pole winner in Duel 1, with even-numbered qualifiers filling the field of Duel 2. The highest-finishing unchartered driver in each of the Duels will advance to the Daytona 500.

Nascar Cup Series Qualifying | Daytona 500

1. (19) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 294.099km/h
2. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 293.645km/h
3. (60) Ryan Preece, Ford, 293.586km/h
4. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 293.449km/h
5. (21) Josh Berry, Ford, 293.3431km/h
6. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 293.122km/h
7. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 292.939km/h
8. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 292.815km/h
9. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 292.808km/h
10. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 292.477km/h
11. (38) Zane Smith, Ford, 292.578km/h
12. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 292.572km/h
13. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 292.565km/h
14. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 292.401km/h
15. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 292.384km/h
16. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 292.342km/h
17. (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 181.558km/h
18. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 292.189km/h
19. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 291.923km/h
20. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 291.841km/h
21. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 291.806km/h
22. (56) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 291.777km/h
23. (4) Noah Gragson, Ford, 291.664km/h
24. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 291.460km/h.
25. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 291.185km/h.
26. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 291.172km/h
27. (35) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 291.020km/h
28. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 290.945km/h
29. (84) Jimmie Johnson, Toyota, 290.945km/h
30. (88) Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, 290.909km/h
31. (7) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 290.699km/h
32. (41) Cole Custer, Ford, 290.670km/h
33. (40) Justin Allgaier(i), Chevrolet, 290.670km/h
34. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 290.465km/h
35. (01) Corey LaJoie, Ford, 290.385km/h
36. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota, 290.192km/h
37. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 289.699km/h
38. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 289.537km/h
39. (91) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 289.282km/h
40. (62) Anthony Alfredo(i), Chevrolet, 289.162km/h
41. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 288.827km/h
42. (66) Chandler Smith(i), Ford, 287.662km/h
43. (78) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 286.099km/h
44. (44) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 283.695km/h
45. (51) Cody Ware, Ford, 279.427km/h