Chase Elliott wins Daytona 500 pole – Nascar

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Chase Elliott‘s rookie campaign just got a jump-start.

Faced with the daunting prospect of succeeding Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, the 20-year-old Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate drove the same chassis to the same result Gordon accomplished last year—the pole position for the Feb. 21 Daytona 500 (on FOX at 1 p.m. ET).

In the money round of qualifying for the Great American Race, Elliott toured 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in 45.845 seconds (196.314 mph), edging Matt Kenseth (196.036 mph) by .065 seconds for the top starting spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series opener.

Elliott and Kenseth are the only drivers whose positions for the Daytona 500 are now locked in. The balance of the field will be filled and ordered in Thursday night’s 150-mile Can-Am Duel qualifying races.

“I’ve never qualified on the front row here before, so that certainly takes off some pressure for later in the week,” Kenseth said.

“This is a very, very cool day,” Elliott said after Earnhardt, the last qualifier, failed to knock him off the pole. “I don’t know that this opportunity has sunk in yet, much less sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500.

“So this is very cool. I think the big thing is just the team and the Daytona 500 qualifying is about the team guys and the effort they put into these cars and it’s nothing special I did. It’s really what kind of work they did this offseason to make it happen. 

“Jeff (Gordon) knows all about that and I just wanted to give a big thanks to NAPA Auto Parts and all of our partners at HMS on this No. 24 car. This is very special and a great way to start the season.”

Elliott’s first Sprint Cup pole was a milestone in many other respects. At 20 years, 2 months and 17 days, he is the youngest-ever winner of a Daytona 500 pole, supplanting Austin Dillon (23 years, 9 months 27 days in 2014).

Should Elliott win the race next Sunday, he would displace Trevor Bayne as the youngest winner of the event often referred to as NASCAR’s Super Bowl.

This was the 10th Daytona 500 pole for Hendrick Motorsports and the third for the No. 24 Chevrolet, with Gordon winning the previous two in 1999 and 2015. Elliott completed the fourth father/son combination to win poles for the 500, joining Richard and Kyle Petty, Bobby and Davey Allison and Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

In fact, Earnhardt Jr. was fastest in the first round of Sunday’s qualifying session, posting a lap at 195.788 mph, but he slipped to third in the final round and will start on the outside of the front row in the first Can-Am Duel.

Kyle Busch posted the fourth fastest lap in the final round and will start from the second spot in the second Duel. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Jimmie Johnson were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the final round.

The qualifying times of the Nos. 4 and 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets, driven by Kevin Harvick and Brian Vickers, were disallowed after NASCAR discovered track bar infractions during post-qualifying inspection. Those cars will start from the rear in their respective Duels.

RELATED: Nos. 4, 14 fail post-Daytona qualifying inspection

Ryan Blaney powered the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford to a seventh in Sunday’s time trials. As the fastest “open” car (required to qualify on speed), he is locked into the Daytona 500. Matt DiBenedetto, the second fastest of the open cars (and 24th overall) also is locked into the field.

Related: Blaney, DiBenedetto lock up Daytona spots

The No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. failed to post a time after NASCAR inspectors noticed that one of the roof flaps was out of compliance. The car was on the five-minute clock at the time and the problem could not be corrected in time to make a qualifying run. As a consequence, Truex will start from the rear of the field in the second Can-Am Duel.

RELATED: Roof flap keeps Truex parked in qualifying