Alex Bowman Wins Daytona 500 Pole

Chris O'Meara / AP

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – RIS – Same old thing, as they say.  Alex Bowman will sit on the pole for Sunday’s Daytona 500 for 2020.  It was his fourth consecutive front row start in the Great American Race.  Bowman claimed the pole with a lap of 191.261 mph.  Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron qualified second with a lap of 190.219 mph to lock in a spot in the Daytona 500. This is the seventh time Hendrick Motorsports swept the front row for the 500.

Aric Almirola (190.178 mph), Bubba Wallace (189.577) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (189.565) rounded out the top qualifiers for the race.  Ryan Preece and and David Ragan each secured two of the spots in the Daytona 500 for non-chartered cars. The final two spots for non-chartered cars will be determined by Thursday’s qualifying races.

“My entire racing career has pretty much been full of moments like this,” Preece said. “This was like no other day to me.” 

Bowman shrugged off himself and gave kudos to his Hendrick Motorsports team who prepared the Chevrolet Camaro for his pole run.

“It doesn’t really have a lot to do with me; it’s a testament to these guys and everybody back at the shop at Hendrick Motorsports. They work so hard on these superspeedway cars. They’re beautiful when they get to the race track,.” Bowman said.

The only two spots with a guaranteed starting spot are the front row starters.  Every other starting spot in the Daytona 500 is still up for grabs after Wednesday night's qualifying session. There are 44 cars racing for 40 spots and 36 cars have guaranteed entries into the field. Among the eight drivers racing for four starting spots, David Ragan and Preece were the two fastest on Wednesday. They are guaranteed to start Sunday's race based on their speeds.

That means Austin Cindric, Kaz Grala, Timmy Hill, Ty Dillon, Garrett Smithley, and Noah Gragson are racing for the two remaining spots in the 500. Three of them will be in each of the Duel qualifying races on Thursday night.

Bowman will start first in the first Duel race (7 p.m. ET, FS1) Thursday night and Byron will start first in the second Duel. The first Duel will set positions Nos. 3-39 in Sunday's race and the second Duel will set positions Nos. 4-40.

Time Trial Results: 63rd Annual Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway

Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, -Next
1) Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 47.056, 191.261, 0.000
2) William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 47.314, 190.219, 0.258
3) Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 47.324, 190.178, 0.010
4) Bubba Wallace, No. 23 DoorDash Toyota, 47.474, 189.577, 0.150
5) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet, 47.477, 189.565, 0.003
6) Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Light #TheCrew Ford, 47.489, 189.518, 0.012
7) Christopher Bell, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota, 47.573, 189.183, 0.084
8) * Ryan Preece, No. 37 Cottonelle Chevrolet, 47.585, 189.135, 0.012
9) Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, 47.631, 188.953, 0.046
10) Daniel Suarez, No. 99 iFly Chevrolet, 47.636, 188.933, 0.005
11) Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 47.695, 188.699, 0.059
12) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Toyota, 47.695, 188.699, 0.000
13) * David Ragan, No. 36 Select Blinds Ford, 47.730, 188.561, 0.035
14) Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 47.742, 188.513, 0.012
15) Kyle Larson, No. 5 Nations Guard Chevrolet, 47.752, 188.474, 0.010
16) Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Toyota, 47.780, 188.363, 0.028
17) Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 47.881, 187.966, 0.101
18) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Blue DEF/PEAK Ford, 47.895, 187.911, 0.014
19) * Austin Cindric(i), No. 33 Verizon 5G Ford, 47.900, 187.891, 0.005
20) * Kaz Grala, No. 16 Hyper Ice Chevrolet, 47.925, 187.793, 0.025
21) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 47.943, 187.723, 0.018
22) Chase Briscoe, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford, 47.956, 187.672, 0.013
23) Ryan Newman, No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford, 47.960, 187.656, 0.004
24) Ross Chastain, No. 42 Clover Chevrolet, 47.972, 187.609, 0.012
25) Cole Custer, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 48.060, 187.266, 0.088
26) Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 48.072, 187.219, 0.012
27) Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 48.124, 187.017, 0.052
28) Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 48.165, 186.858, 0.041
29) Erik Jones, No. 43 Armor All Chevrolet, 48.189, 186.765, 0.024
30) Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 48.269, 186.455, 0.080
31) Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet, 48.347, 186.154, 0.078
32) Anthony Alfredo, No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford, 48.422, 185.866, 0.075
33) * Ty Dillon(i), No. 96 Bass Pro Shops/Black Rifle Coffee Toyota, 48.446, 185.774, 0.024
34) Jamie McMurray, No. 77 AdventHealth Chevrolet, 48.746, 184.631, 0.300
35) Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Youtheory Chevrolet, 48.767, 184.551, 0.021
36) Quin Houff, No. 00 Mane 'n Tail Chevrolet, 49.571, 181.558, 0.804
37) * Garrett Smithley(i), No. 13 Trophy Tractor Ford, 49.880, 180.433, 0.309
38) BJ McLeod(i), No. 78 NASCAR Heats Ford, 49.985, 180.054, 0.105
39) * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 VSI Racing Ford, 50.016, 179.942, 0.031
40) Cody Ware, No. 51 Nurtec ODT Chevrolet, 50.074, 179.734, 0.058
41) Joey Gase, No. 53 Page Construction Ford, 50.630, 177.760, 0.556
42) Josh Bilicki, No. 52 Wisconsin Lighting Lab Ford, 50.926, 176.727, 0.296
43) Derrike Cope, No. 15 Jacob Companies Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000, -----
44) * Noah Gragson(i), No. 62 Beard Motorsports/South Point Chevrolet, 0.000, 0.000, -----
(*)Required to qualify on time, (OP) Top 30 in Owner Points, (PC) Past Champion,(i)Ineligible for driver points in this series