The Daytona 500's one-of-a-kind qualifying process has wrapped up for its 64th edition with a pair of Bluegreen Vacation Duels. The front row for Sunday's race was set after Wednesday night's qualifying, with Kyle Larson setting the fastest lap around the 2.5-mile Superspeedway in 49.680 seconds and Alex Bowman coming in at 49.711.
The two 150-mile long duel races determined the rest of the starting line-up. A duo of Rousch Fenway Penske drivers will fill out the 2nd row, as Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher both won their respective duel races.
After two of the four open spots in the line-up were filled by Noah Gragson and Jacques Villeneuve in qualifying Wednesday night, Kaz Grala and Greg Biffle raced their way into the Great American Race.
Daytona 500 starting lineup
The first duel of the night determined the inside starting row for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. Kyle Larson won the pole on Wednesday night with the fastest time in qualifying, and Brad Keselowski won the first Duel on Thursday night, landing him in the second row.
Inside Row
The second Duel of the night established the outside row for Sunday's race. Alex Bowman will start in the front row for a record-breaking fifth consecutive year with the second-fastest qualifying time on Wednesday night.
Winning duel number two of the night and starting in the second row on Sunday was Chris Buescher, after Joey Logano wrecked his car while trying to block Buescher exiting turn 2.
Outside Row
Meanwhile, speaking about breaking the record for most consecutive front-row starts, Alex Bowman said:
“It’s unbelievable… It just says so much about Hendrick Motorsports and these guys. It’s cool to have the record but I feel like Greg Ives and the race team should get the credit. The driver doesn’t do much.”
The Cup Series has two practice sessions, on Friday at 6 pm ET and on Saturday at 10:30 am ET, before the Daytona 500 the next day. The 40 cars will take the green flag for 200 laps of racing on Sunday at 2:30 pm ET.