DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kyle Busch has secured the pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500, giving the driver with the longest active losing streak in the “Great American Race” a shot at the victory that has escaped him his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.
Busch is 0-for-20 in the Daytona 500, and he hasn’t started in the top five for the big show at Daytona International Speedway since 2016, when he still drove for Joe Gibbs Racing. He started fourth and finished third that year, then was a career-best second in 2019 to Denny Hamlin, one of his JGR teammates at the time.
“Kyle, we’ve got to get him this 500,” team owner Richard Childress said.
No driver has ever earned his first Daytona 500 victory after 20 previous attempts. Dale Earnhardt won for Childress in his 20th start in 1998 — three years before the seven-time Cup Series champion was killed in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
“Sounds really good right now — being able to qualify on my first pole for the Daytona 500, that’s pretty special,” said Busch, who wore custom-designed Olympic-themed racing shoes Wednesday night at Daytona International Speedway.