A pole that means more than a line in the stats
Ross Chastain will roll off first on Saturday night at Daytona. The No. 1 Chevrolet driver for Trackhouse Racing turned a lap at 184.396 mph in the overnight session from Friday into Saturday, edging the No. 17 Ford of Chris Buescher by 0.051 seconds.
It is his first pole of the season and the third of his Cup Series career. The last one came in 2023 at Watkins Glen. On the 2.5-mile oval, it is his best starting spot in 16 tries.
The geography matters here. Chastain is 33 and comes from Alva, Florida. His crew chief, Brandon McSwain, is from Auburndale, an hour up the road. “I was a kid sitting in the grandstands, we used to camp behind Turn 1,” the driver said, calling it a lifelong achievement.
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Trackhouse puts all three cars up front while the contenders go backward
All three Trackhouse Chevrolets made the 10-car final round. Shane Van Gisbergen starts sixth, rookie Connor Zilisch seventh.
At the other end of the scale, none of the top four in the standings survived the opening round. Denny Hamlin, already locked in as the No. 1 seed, could manage only 30th. Ryan Blaney, second in points and the winner here last year, is 19th. Ty Gibbs starts 14th, Tyler Reddick 17th.
Blaney won from the pole in 2025. Before that you had to go back to Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2015 to find a Cup winner who started on the front row at Daytona. Track position is worth almost nothing on this place.
The last exit before the playoffs
The Coke Zero Sugar 400 goes green at 7:30 p.m. ET and closes the regular season. The top 16 in points move on to the 10 playoff races, starting next weekend at Darlington.
Ryan Preece knows exactly what is at stake. The RFK driver was quickest in the first qualifying round and lines up fourth, his best grid spot of the year. He sits 17th in the championship, 44 points behind Austin Cindric and 31 behind Van Gisbergen. “I wanted the pole. Fourth is good, but it’s not what I wanted,” he said.
History offers nobody much comfort. Nine different drivers have won the last 11 races at Daytona, seven of the last eight summer editions among them. Forty cars will take the green flag.
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