DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chase Briscoe led a banner night for Toyota in Wednesday’s qualifying session for NASCAR’s Daytona 500 by securing the pole position for the “Great American Race.”
It is the first Daytona 500 pole for Briscoe, who moved to Joe Gibbs Racing this season after Stewart-Haas Racing closed at the end of 2024, with that Ford team downsizing from four cars to one as Haas Factory Team. Briscoe’s move to the JGR No. 19 also gave Toyota its first pole in the Cup Series opener that’s annually billed as NASCAR’s biggest race.
This year’s edition is set for Sunday at Dayonta International Speedway.
“A great way to start our season. Unbelievable way to start off the year. Unbelievable way to start off with Toyota,” Briscoe said. “To be able to be the guy to deliver them the first anything when they’ve already accomplished so much is pretty cool.
“To think I’m going to start on the front row or on the pole of the Great American Race with ultimately the great American brand of (sponsor) Bass Pro Shops is unbelievable. Can’t thank Coach Gibbs enough, the entire Joe Gibbs Racing organization.”
Toyota has been competing in the Cup Series since 2007, still making it by far the new kid alongside Chevrolet and Ford.
Briscoe’s lap of 182.745 mph held off a slew of Ford challengers. Austin Cindric, the 2022 Daytona 500 winner, qualified second in a Ford for Team Penske. At last year’s Daytona 500, the organization owned by motorsports titan Roger Penske started from the pole with Joey Logano, who wound up closing the season with his third Cup Series championship.
Ford drivers had four of the top five spots in the time trials, but only Briscoe and Cindric as the front-row starters were locked in Wednesday night.
“A lot of fast Fords,” Cindric said. “Pretty good to start on the front row with one of my good friends. All in all, a great box checked for the start of this week. I think every single part of this weekend is important to setting up with an opportunity to win this race on Sunday.”
The only other drivers who locked into Daytona 500 spots, though not into specific places in the starting lineup, during time trials were in Toyotas. Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr., who were not guaranteed entry, posted speeds fast enough to earn two of the four open spots in the race not taken by chartered cars.
Beyond the front row of Briscoe and Cindric, the starting order will be set in a pair of qualifying races Thursday night.
There are nine drivers entered for four open spots, and Johnson and Truex have taken two of them. Johnson is a seven-time Cup Series champion and two-time Daytona 500 winner who is already a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Truex won the 2017 Cup Series title but said the 2024 season would his last of full-time competition on the circuit with JGR.
“Both Jimmie and I were beneficiaries of their hard work on their engines,” Truex said of Toyota.
Both would have been eligible to request the “world-class driver” provisional that guarantees entry as a 41st car to one driver who does not compete full time in NASCAR and brings marketability and visibility to the biggest race of the season.
The provisional will go to four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves if he fails to race his way in Thursday night. If he takes the provisional, Trackhouse Racing will not receive any points or purse money, and the field will be 41 cars — the largest field since 43 was the standard in 2015.
Johnson said his Legacy Motor Club was unaware of the provisional until it was announced earlier this year, even though it was a new rule included in the charter agreement teams signed in September. The rule required a team to request the provisional 90 days before the event, and the rule was not publicly announced until after the deadline for the Daytona 500 had passed.
“We didn’t know about it until the rule came out. Evidently, it was buried in the charter agreement that came out,” Johnson said earlier Wednesday. “But when the rule came out, I forget the time of the morning, three minutes later, we were on the phone with NASCAR and recognized it wasn’t within the 90 day-window and we weren’t eligible.
“We’ve had a lot of talks with everyone at NASCAR, and I have a better understanding of the intent of the rule, and I would anticipate some changes following (this year’s Daytona 500) to better define and clarify that. When first read, our reaction wasn’t great, but it is what it is, and hopefully we have a fast enough car to get in.”
He did, just off the speed of Truex as the two former champions ensured themselves of chances to race Sunday.
The drivers who must race their way in Thursday by seeking the two remaining spots are Anthony Alfredo, Justin Allgaier, Corey LaJoie, B.J. McLeod, Chandler Smith and J.J. Yeley. And if Castroneves races his way in, there will be only one open spot available.