Chase Elliott Wins Daytona 400 Pole

Terry Renna/AP

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – RIS – Chase Elliott did what Chase Elliott often does.  He won the pole for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup race.  Behind Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman will start on the front line and Brad Keselowski will begin third. Rounding out the Top 5 for Saturday's race are Jimmie Johnson in fourth and Kevin Harvick in fifth. Kyle Busch, who won last week's thriller at Chicagoland Speedway, will start 15th.

"I didn't know it was that fast," Elliott said after his 46.381-second (194.045 mph) run around the 2.5-mile track. "Our Hooters Chevy's been nice all weekend (and) we made a couple changes, actually, at the end of that last practice before the rain and made it go a little faster, so hopefully it translates into driving the car (Saturday) night."

Kevin Harvick will start fifth and defending race champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will go sixth.  Series leader Kyle Busch earned the 15th spot on the grid.

Qualifying Round: 2
1 9 Chase Elliott Hooters Chevrolet 46.381 194.045 1 1 0.000 0.000
2 88 Alex Bowman Axalta Chevrolet 46.621 193.046 1 1 0.240 0.240
3 2 Brad Keselowski Stars Stripes and Lites Ford 46.680 192.802 1 1 0.299 0.059
4 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's for Pros Chevrolet 46.787 192.361 1 1 0.406 0.107
5 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John's Kickin' Ranch Ford 46.791 192.345 1 1 0.410 0.004
6 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fifth Third Bank Ford 46.835 192.164 1 1 0.454 0.044
7 31 Ryan Newman Bass Pro Shops/Cabela's Chevrolet 46.921 191.812 1 1 0.540 0.086
8 34 Michael McDowell K-LOVE Radio Ford 46.956 191.669 1 1 0.575 0.035
9 14 Clint Bowyer Rush Truck Centers Ford 47.011 191.445 1 1 0.630 0.055
10 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol e15 Chevrolet 47.047 191.298 1 1 0.666 0.036
11 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 47.083 191.152 1 1 0.702 0.036
12 12 Ryan Blaney BodyArmor Ford 47.125 190.981 1 1 0.744 0.042
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed Lap # # Laps -Fastest -Next
Qualifying Round: 1
1 9 Chase Elliott Hooters Chevrolet 46.394 193.991 1 1 0.000 0.000
2 88 Alex Bowman Axalta Chevrolet 46.647 192.938 1 1 0.253 0.253
3 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's for Pros Chevrolet 46.708 192.686 1 1 0.314 0.061
4 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John's Kickin' Ranch Ford 46.777 192.402 1 1 0.383 0.069
5 2 Brad Keselowski Stars Stripes and Lites Ford 46.778 192.398 1 1 0.384 0.001
6 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fifth Third Bank Ford 46.832 192.176 1 1 0.438 0.054
7 31 Ryan Newman Bass Pro Shops/Cabela's Chevrolet 46.931 191.771 1 1 0.537 0.099
8 34 Michael McDowell K-LOVE Radio Ford 46.938 191.742 1 1 0.544 0.007
9 14 Clint Bowyer Rush Truck Centers Ford 46.987 191.542 1 1 0.593 0.049
10 12 Ryan Blaney BodyArmor Ford 47.038 191.335 1 1 0.644 0.051
11 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 47.045 191.306 1 1 0.651 0.007
12 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol e15 Chevrolet 47.054 191.270 1 1 0.660 0.009
13 78 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota 47.069 191.209 1 1 0.675 0.015
14 42 Kyle Larson Credit One Bank Chevrolet 47.086 191.140 1 1 0.692 0.017
15 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 47.142 190.913 1 1 0.748 0.056
16 * 62 Brendan Gaughan Beard Oil Distributing/South Point Hotel & 47.145 190.900 1 1 0.751 0.003
17 11 Denny Hamlin FexEx Cares Toyota 47.151 190.876 1 1 0.757 0.006
18 24 William Byron # Liberty University Chevrolet 47.153 190.868 1 1 0.759 0.002
19 13 Ty Dillon GEICO Military Chevrolet 47.162 190.832 1 1 0.768 0.009
20 6 Trevor Bayne Performance Plus Ford 47.165 190.819 1 1 0.771 0.003
21 38 David Ragan Shriners Hospital For Children Ford 47.211 190.634 1 1 0.817 0.046
22 43 Bubba Wallace # U.S. Air Force Chevrolet 47.228 190.565 1 1 0.834 0.017
23 41 Kurt Busch Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford 47.270 190.396 1 1 0.876 0.042
24 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger ClickList Chevrolet 47.284 190.339 1 1 0.890 0.014
25 37 Chris Buescher Kleenex Wet Wipes Chevrolet 47.358 190.042 1 1 0.964 0.074
26 10 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 47.360 190.034 1 1 0.966 0.002
27 1 Jamie McMurray DC Solar Chevrolet 47.424 189.777 1 1 1.030 0.064
28 95 Kasey Kahne Thorne Wellness Chevrolet 47.456 189.649 1 1 1.062 0.032
29 20 Erik Jones buyatoyota.com Toyota 47.510 189.434 1 1 1.116 0.054
30 21 Paul Menard Menards/Moen Ford 47.568 189.203 1 1 1.174 0.058
31 32 Matt DiBenedetto Zynga Poker Ford 47.787 188.336 1 1 1.393 0.219
32 19 Daniel Suarez ARRIS Toyota 47.872 188.001 1 1 1.478 0.085
33 15 Ross Chastain(i) Caddy's Beach Bar Restaurants Chevrolet 48.033 187.371 1 1 1.639 0.161
34 * 7 Jeffrey Earnhardt Nine Line Foundation Chevrolet 48.045 187.324 1 1 1.651 0.012
35 * 96 DJ Kennington Lordco/Castrol/Spectra Premium Toyota 48.306 186.312 1 1 1.912 0.261
36 00 Joey Gase(i) Sparks Inc. Chevrolet 48.554 185.361 1 1 2.160 0.248
37 * 99 Landon Cassill Star Com Fiber Chevrolet 48.640 185.033 1 1 2.246 0.086
38 72 Corey LaJoie Dragonchain Chevrolet 48.655 184.976 1 1 2.261 0.015
39 51 Ray Black II(i) Prefund Capital/Jacob Companies Chevrolet 49.141 183.146 1 1 2.747 0.486
40 23 JJ Yeley(i) Steakhouse Elite Toyota 49.253 182.730 1 1 2.859 0.112
41 * 92 Timothy Peters(i) Advance Auto Parts/Black's Tire Ford 49.705 181.068 1 1

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2018, Issue 6, Posted 12:54 AM, 07.07.2018