Daytona 500: Briscoe, Cindric on front row – Truex, Johnson locked into race
By Don Coble
DAYTONA BEACH – Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric don’t have to worry about strategy or finishing positions during Thursday night’s Duel qualifying races after winning the first row of the Daytona 500 during pole qualifying Wednesday night.
While
the rest of the field will be determined in a pair of 150-mile races Thursday
night (7 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., FS1), the biggest winners from Wednesday’s time
trials may have been former NASCAR Cup Series Champions Martin Truex and Jimmie
Johnson.
Both
were making a one-off start for the season-opening race at the Daytona
International Speedway, and they didn’t have the safety net of a guaranteed
spot in the starting lineup. 36 full-time teams with charters enjoy a guaranteed spot on the grid. NASCAR created a unique and confusing
qualifying format, but Truex and Johnson won’t have to be part of the process
after they posted the two fastest speeds of the nine non-chartered teams. The remaining seven teams must race for the final two spots in the field. However, NASCAR said it may award an “Open Exemption Provisional” to four-time
Indianapolis 500 champion Heilo Castroneves.
“Definitely
a big relief. You never know what can happen in the Duels – they can get crazy,
something on pit road can get you in trouble,” Truex said after running a
single lap at 181.302 mph. “Great job to all the guys – they worked their butts
off on this car. They were sweating all afternoon, and luckily, we could
put a good lap in.”
Truex
was 22nd overall, well behind Briscoe’s fastest lap of 182.860 mph
and Cindric’s outside pole run of 182.349 mph.
Johnson
ran 180.785. While he was 29th overall, he was ahead of the seven
other non-chartered drivers – Justin Allgaier, Corey LaJoie, Castroneves,
Anthony Alfredo, Chandler Smith, BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley.
A
year ago, Johnson failed to qualify for the 500. The former two-time Daytona
500 winner could not time or race his way into the lineup in the duel in 2024,
so there was a tremendous sense of relief Wednesday night, especially since he
purchased the majority interest in the race team, Legacy Motor Club.
“What
I went through last year was so frightening, and I’m glad I don’t have to go
through it again,” Johnson said. “I certainly respect this process and don’t
envy the guys that have to race their way in. It’s so tough. We’re in the big
show. The most important thing is we’re off to a great start.”
Briscoe
raced at Stewart Haas Racing last year but moved over to Joe Gibbs Racing
this year to replace Truex, who retired as a full-time driver.
“I
mean, it is the pole. We’d much rather win the race, but it’s neat regardless,”
Briscoe said. “Even this whole offseason, a lot of the emphasis at JGR has been
to qualify better at superspeedways. They felt like that was the biggest area
they lacked.
“For
them to be able to come here after qualifying 25th average last year, to come
here and have three cars in the top 10, to have one on the pole, is just a
testament to everybody there, just the amount of effort and prep work they put
in.”
The
other Gibbs cars were Denny Hamlin in sixth and Christopher Bell in eighth.
However,
Roger Penske had three cars in the top four – Cindric, Ryan Preece in third and
Joey Logano in fourth.
The
starting lineup for the first Duel Thursday was set by Wednesday’s time trials.
The odd-numbered finishers (first, third, fifth, etc.) will race in the first
Duel; the even-numbered finishers will race in the second. The highest finishing 18 drivers
who aren’t already in the race will advance to the main event from each race, and
the two highest finishers from the non-chartered teams will also advance.
Check
back for updates.
