The drivers go under the lights to qualify for the front row of the Daytona 500 set for Sunday afternoon.

A total of 42 teams brought cars to Daytona International Speedway for 40 starting spots including seven time Cup Series champion and car owner Jimmie Johnson.

When the drivers get out on the track, it will be their first time in 2024; they will be qualifying with no practice…and Ford and Toyota both have new cars for the 2024 season.

With the retirement of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch becomes the active driver with the most race starts at 678. 

After some issues getting through the inspection process, Carson Hocevar is the first driver on the track to make a qualifying run with a time of 50,589 seconds around the 2.5 mile track.

With a time of 49.952, Ryan Preece is the first driver to break the 50 second mark.

When the Entry List for the Daytona 500 came out on Monday, the NY Racing Team did not have a driver signed up for the race.  JJ Yeley will be driving the NYRT number 44 car.

Kaz Grala, who is one of the six drivers who must race or time his way into the race has some shifter issues and could not make a qualifying run.

With a time of 50.098 seconds, Anthony Alfredo has locked in a spot in the race on Sunday.

After all of the cars have qualified…
Joey Logano
Kyle Larson
Austin Dillon
William Byron
Chase Elliott
Michael McDowell
Austin Cindric
Kyle Busch
Ross Chastain
and Harrison Burton
will move on to round two of qualifying to determine the pole and front row for the 500.

The first driver on the track is Harrison Burton who posted a time of 49.909 seconds; nearly identical to what he ran in round one.

Posting a time of 49.465 seconds, Joey Logano takes the pole and give car owner Roger Penske his first Daytona 500 pole.  It has been a very big year for Roger Penske with Ryan Blaney winning the championship, the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona, and the Indianapolis 500 last year.  It is also the first pole for the 500 for Logano.

Beating out Kyle Larson by 14 thousandths of a second, Michael McDowell will start on the front row.

Already announced that the track is a sellout for the Daytona 500, the race will also will include the largest purse ever in motorsports history with over $28 million.