Toyota has secured the pole position for the Daytona 500, with Chase Briscoe clocking the fastest laps in both rounds of qualifying on Wednesday night. Briscoe’s best time was 49.249 seconds at a speed of 182.745 mph, outpacing competitors Austin Cindric and Ryan Preece.
Briscoe will start first in Thursday’s first duel qualifying race, while Cindric leads the second duel. This marks Briscoe’s first Toyota pole in a points race, having recently joined Joe Gibbs Racing after his previous team, Stewart-Haas Racing, ceased operations at the end of the 2024 season.
This is the second Daytona 500 pole for Joe Gibbs Racing—the first was in 1998 when Bobby Labonte set the fastest lap driving a Pontiac. Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr., who still races part-time, and seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson qualified at speeds secure enough to guarantee their spots in the Daytona 500 regardless of duel race outcomes.
The Daytona 500 will feature 40 cars in 40 starting positions, with 36 guaranteed spots through NASCAR’s charter system. The remaining nine drivers compete for four open spots. Among those in contention, seven drivers have posted top qualifying times, including Truex and Johnson. Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves also competes in an open car and holds a guaranteed race spot. If he doesn’t qualify through the duel, Castroneves can use a new NASCAR provision allowing key drivers to participate, which could expand the field to 41 cars.
If Truex or Johnson finishes as the top open car in the duels, Justin Allgaier will qualify based on his speed. Allgaier is making his first Cup Series start for JR Motorsports, a team formerly initiated by Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The duels start at 7 p.m. EST on Thursday. Below are the starting lineups for both duels, with the highest finishing open cars (marked by *) earning spots in the Daytona 500.
Duel 1 Starting Lineup:
- Chase Briscoe
- Ryan Preece
- Josh Berry
- Austin Dillon
- Ty Dillon
- Zane Smith
- Kyle Busch
- Chase Elliott
- Michael McDowell
- AJ Allmendinger
- William Byron
- Martin Truex Jr.*
- Christopher Bell
- Tyler Reddick
- Bubba Wallace
- Justin Haley
- Justin Allgaier*
- Carson Hocevar
- Ross Chastain
- Helio Castroneves*
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Chandler Smith*
- JJ Yeley*
Duel 2 Starting Lineup:
- Austin Cindric
- Joey Logano
- Denny Hamlin
- Christopher Bell
- Kyle Larson
- Alex Bowman
- Todd Gilliland
- Brad Keselowski
- Chris Buescher
- Ryan Blaney
- Noah Gragson
- Daniel Suárez
- Riley Herbst
- Jimmie Johnson*
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Cole Custer
- Corey LaJoie*
- Erik Jones
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Anthony Alfredo*
- BJ McLeod*
- Josh Wise
Fan Take:
Chase Briscoe clinching the first Toyota pole at Daytona is a significant milestone that highlights Toyota’s growing strength in NASCAR. This excitement around fresh talent and competitive teams is sure to energize fans and add new momentum to the 2025 NASCAR season.
