"A huge thank you to the engine shop" – Kyle Larson dedicates first Daytona 500 pole to Hendrick Motorsports garage

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson took his first pole at the Daytona 500 on Wednesday. His lap to the top of the leaderboard took 49.68 seconds while setting the speed gun rolling at 181.859 mph.

After the qualifying session, the #5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver heaped generous praise on his team, saying:

“Just a huge thank you to the engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports. Everybody who’s had a part in touching these vehicles; whether it be on the computer, engineering, or just hands on. It’s really neat; just awesome the speed in our HendrickCars.com Chevy. Hopefully this is the beginning of a really good weekend.”

The Daytona 500 will mark the official debut of the Next Gen cars. With just the one proper run at the Clash at LA Coliseum earlier this month, this achievement will be special for Kyle Larson and his team.

Meanwhile, the Chevrolets put on a dominating performance at the Daytona International Speedway. The Camaro ZL1s locked out six of the top-10 spots in the first round of qualifying.

William Byron was third fastest in his #24 Axalta, while Chase Elliott was fifth in his #9 NAPA Auto Parts car. This gave Hendrick Motorsports a commanding position in the lead-up to the race with four of the top-five in the qualifying results. Simultaneously, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, in his #1 Advent Health, was seventh, and Daniel Suarez was ninth in his #99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge to round out the Chevrolets in the top-10 on the qualifying speed chart.

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Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman lock-out Daytona 500 front row

Joining Kyle Larson on the front row is his team-mate Alex Bowman in his #48 Ally Camaro ZL1. The 28-year-old set a time of 49.711 seconds with a speed of 181.046 mph to slot his car right beside Larson.

In doing so, Bowman made his mark in the NASCAR history books as the only driver to have taken the Daytona 500 front row for five consecutive seasons, from 2018 to 2022. He then went on to give credit to his team for his achievements, saying:

“It just says so much about Hendrick Motorsports and all these guys. Congrats to the 5 on getting the pole. It’s cool to have the record, but I feel like Greg Ives (Crew Chief) and my race team should be the ones that get the credit for that record. The driver doesn’t really have much to do with it, but glad I didn’t mess it up for them and really happy for Ally and Chevrolet. Cool to be a part of it.”

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