By David Morgan, Associate Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For 20 years, the Daytona 500 has eluded Kyle Busch, but on Wednesday night, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet fired the opening salvo in his quest to finally win the Great American Race.
Busch powered his way to the top of the board in the opening round of pole qualifying, signaling the stout speed that RCR had brought to Daytona with a lap of 48.933 seconds and backed it up in the final round with a 49.006 second lap to bump last year’s Daytona 500 polesitter Chase Briscoe to the outside of the front row.
Afterwards, Busch gave the credit to his revamped No. 8 team, led by new crew chief Jim Pohlman.
“This guy did. He had all the confidence in the world. He said this is what we’re going to do,” Busch said pointing to Pohlman.
“We just set out to the plan that Jim laid out. Had a really good practice. Being able to put some good time on the car, learn a couple things, make the speed we needed in order to come out here and sit on the pole tonight.”
“…I think it’s a huge boost. Bringing Jim on board and having his passion and determination of what he’s done all off-season long, leading his group of guys, having them all believing in him and putting our faith in what he’s got to do for our team and being able to give us what we need to go out there to succeed.
“This is just a first step of it. This is the beginning of the year, first qualifying attempt of the season. There’s a whole heck of a lot more we have to do throughout the season to be good, to be real, to be contenders. But it sure feels good in the moment right now.”
Pohlman echoed those comments, pointing to Wednesday’s pole win being the first step back for the No. 8 team.
“To come out swinging and get a Daytona 500 pole as a first race as a crew chief is pretty humbling for me. There’s a lot of hype around it. Feels really good obviously,” said Pohlman.
“But yeah, I think to echo what they’ve said here, start the season out strong, this is just one small step of it.
“Kudos to everybody at ECR, RCR, the whole organization. Made a good plan coming into this. We’ve executed really well. Nice to see that out of everybody.”
Winning the pole for the Daytona 500 is one thing, but parlaying the speed from Wednesday night into Sunday is something completely different. Not since Dale Jarrett in 2000 has a driver gone from pole to Victory Lane, but Busch is ready to buck those odds on his way to winning the 500 in his 21st start.
“It’s a box we got to check. Here we are. This is an opportunity to be able to do that,” said Busch. “I’ve come down here a lot of years. I think I finished in about every position possible. It would be nice to close out 2026 with a victory here in the Daytona 500.”
In his return to the Daytona 500 front row, Briscoe chalked the speed up to a collective effort of everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing for preparing the best car possible to go out and make a run at the pole for the second year in a row.
“It’s cool for sure to be able to consistently two years in a row now. It’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,” said Briscoe.
“The 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.
“It’s the kid in me to be able to lead the field to green two years — not lead the field, but being in the front row, for two years in a row at the Daytona 500. It’s a really big deal, not only for myself, but I haven’t even checked my phone, I’m sure Johnny Morris is ballistic already. He gets super fired up for this race. He’s called me two or three times this week telling me he’s so excited to get here and asking me how the car is. It’s a big deal for him, as well.
“It should be awesome to be on the front row again Sunday.”
Justin Allgaier and Corey Heim posted the top times among the open cars to lock themselves into the field as well, with the final two starting spots in the Daytona 500 coming down to the remaining open cars.
Among those being Corey LaJoie, Chandler Smith, Casey Mears, Anthony Alfredo, BJ McLeod, and JJ Yeley.
LaJoie, Smith, and Mears will run in the first Duel, with Alfredo, McLeod, and Yeley in the second. The highest Open car in each Duel will clinch a spot in Sunday’s starting lineup.
Gragson Has Time Disallowed
Noah Gragson had his time disallowed after running afoul of the new rule in which drivers cannot put their hand up to the window net to block or redirect air.
Notified about it afterwards, Gragson was candid about not remembering the rule and accepted the blame for having to start his Duel from the back of the field.
“I completely forgot about that rule, so that one’s on me,” Gragson said. “Luckily, we have the Duels. I feel like for the Daytona 500, it’s such a long race, you can kind of start wherever. It is what it is. Yeah, I feel like kind of an idiot for that.”
Chase Briscoe joked about Gragson’s problem afterwards, noting that as soon as he heard it, he knew it was probably Noah that it happened to.
“He’s my buddy, but I’m not surprised it was the guy that had it happen to him,” Briscoe joked. “I told my guys as soon as it happened, Of all the people, I bet he didn’t even remember it was a rule.
“Yeah, it’s pretty funny. I joked with my guys after. Honestly, we could have had my hand up, I think I would have been on the pole. I’ve done a really good job of just practicing that perfect form all the way around the racetrack.
“No, it did not surprise me that of all the people. If there was odds on it, I would have said he would have been the odds-on favorite.”
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