Ross Chastain couldn’t have picked a much bigger night to earn his first pole of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
The Trackhouse Racing driver will lead the field to green Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway after capturing the pole for the Coke Zero Sugar 400, the final race before NASCAR’s return to The Chase.
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Chastain posted a 48.808-second lap at 184.396 mph in the final round of qualifying Friday, edging Chris Buescher for the top starting spot. Buescher qualified second at 184.204 mph.
But behind the front row, Friday’s session created a much more interesting subplot.
Ryan Preece, one of the drivers still trying to race his way into the postseason, qualified fourth. The two drivers currently occupying the final Chase positions will start behind him, with Shane van Gisbergen sixth and Austin Cindric eighth.
At Daytona, where one wreck can completely scramble both the running order and the championship picture, the battle for those final spots will begin with Preece looking through his windshield at the two drivers he needs to chase down.
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Ryan Preece Gives Himself a Strong Starting Point at Daytona
Preece entered Daytona on the wrong side of the Chase cut line, but his No. 60 RFK Racing Ford showed plenty of speed when it mattered Friday.
His 184.121-mph qualifying lap put him fourth, behind only Chastain, Buescher and Austin Hill.
Van Gisbergen qualified sixth, while Cindric will roll off eighth. Cindric enters Saturday night 44 points above the cut line, while van Gisbergen holds a 31-point advantage over Preece.
Those margins are significant under normal circumstances.
Daytona is not a normal circumstance.
The regular-season finale has historically offered drivers outside the postseason picture one final opportunity to change everything with a victory. With pack racing, drafting strategy and the constant threat of a multi-car accident, simply surviving until the closing laps can become as important as outright speed.
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Preece at least gave himself a favorable place to begin that fight.
There were other notable performances near the front. Riley Herbst qualified fifth, while Connor Zilisch took seventh. Joey Logano and Kyle Larson completed the top 10 behind Cindric.
Brickyard 400 winner Corey Heim will start 11th.
Several Big NASCAR Names Will Have Work to Do
Not everyone expected to contend Saturday night will begin near the front.
William Byron, who entered the week as one of the betting favorites at Daytona, qualified 13th. Tyler Reddick starts 17th, followed two positions later by Ryan Blaney in 19th.
Brad Keselowski qualified 21st and Chase Elliott will start 22nd.
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Then things get even more interesting.
Bubba Wallace qualified 26th, Carson Hocevar starts 28th and Denny Hamlin will have to come from 30th. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., a former Daytona 500 winner, qualified 32nd.
Christopher Bell finds himself even deeper in the field in 35th, alongside AJ Allmendinger in 36th.
At plenty of tracks, those starting positions could represent a major disadvantage. Daytona has a way of making the starting grid feel considerably less important once the field forms a pack and the drafting begins.
Still, the contrast at the front is hard to miss.
Chastain has the clean air. Preece has track position for perhaps the biggest race of his season. Van Gisbergen and Cindric are both starting inside the top eight with postseason spots to protect.
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And several of NASCAR’s biggest names will be coming from much deeper in the field.
That should give Saturday night’s regular-season finale plenty to sort out before the checkered flag falls.
Daytona Cup Series Starting Lineup
Gray Gaulding posted the 41st-fastest qualifying time and failed to qualify for the 40-car field.
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