Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe earn front row for 2026 Daytona 500
Kyle Busch and Chase Briscoe will lead the field to the green flag in the 2026 Daytona 500.
Busch paced the field in qualifying at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in 49.006 seconds, averaging just over 183 mph Wednesday night in the final round of qualifying to earn the pole for The Great American Race.
The pole is Busch’s 35th in his NASCAR Cup Series career and his first since Dover in April of 2024.
Briscoe will start to his outside. The 2025 Daytona 500 pole winner will start on the front row for the 500 for the second year in a row.
Addtionally, Corey Heim and Justin Allgaier qualified for the Daytona 500 as the highest of drivers racing for open teams.
The rest of the field, rows 2 through 21 will be determined after the 150-mile Duel races Thursday night.
The highest finishing Open driver (excluding Heim and Allgaier) in each Duel race will qualify for the Daytona 500.
The Daytona 500 is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.