DAYTONA — Rookie Chase Elliott positioned himself as one of the favorites for next Sunday’s Daytona 500 after becoming the youngest driver ever to secure pole position in qualifying at Daytona International Speedway.
Elliott, the 20-year-old son of 1988 Winston Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, soared to the top of the charts with a speed of 196.314mph in his No. 24 Chevrolet in the final round of qualifying on Sunday for the Great American Race.
Matt Kenseth qualified second after the two-round session at Daytona Beach, Florida with 196.036mph while twice champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. took third, with 195.682 mph.
Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch (195.207 mph) and Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (195.118 mph) rounded out the top five for NASCAR’s season-opening event.
“This is a very, very cool day,” Hendrick Motorsports’ Elliott said in a trackside television interview after clocking the top speed.
“I don’t know that this opportunity has sunk in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500.
“The big thing is just the team and Daytona 500 qualifying is about the team guys and the effort that they put into these cars. It was nothing special that I did, it’s really just the kind of work they did this off-season to make it happen.”
Elliott, who became the first rookie and youngest driver to win a NASCAR national series title at the 2014 Nationwide Series championship, has taken over the No. 24 Chevrolet from the recently retired Jeff Gordon, a three-time Daytona 500 winner.
“Opportunities like this don’t come twice and I certainly want to make the most of this one,” said Elliott. “This is very, very special and a very, very cool way to start our 2016 season.”
Casey Mears was knocked out of the first round of qualifying by one-thousandth of a second by reigning Daytona 500 champion Joey Logano, who ended up qualifying in 12th place.
Hamlin wins opening race
Joe Gibbs Racing opened a new season exactly where it left off last year: On top of the podium.
Denny Hamlin won the Sprint Unlimited Saturday to give JGR its third consecutive win in the exhibition race. JGR drivers have actually won the Unlimited in four of the past five years, and Hamlin has three victories since 2006.
Winning this exhibition race rarely translates into Daytona 500 success. The last driver to win the opening race and the 500 was Dale Jarrett in 2000.
Joey Logano, last year’s Daytona 500 winner, finished second in a Ford and was followed by Paul Menard, Kyle Larson and Casey Mears, all in Chevrolets. — Agencies
