The 2026 Daytona 500 buildup heated up at Daytona International Speedway after Kyle Busch, who has remained winless for the past two and a half sesaons, collected the pole in qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series’s opening race.
Busch posted the fastest lap in single car qualifying on Wednesday night to take the top starting spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500. The No. 8 Richard Childress Racing driver produced a lap of 49.006 seconds at 183.651 mph to secure the Daytona 500 pole for the first time in his career. This pushed Chase Briscoe to the outside of the front row and the two drivers will now lead the field into the ‘Great American Race’ this Sunday.
Ryan Preece, Denny Hamlin, Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Joey Logano finished in the top 10 ahead of the split field for two 60-lap Duel races on Thursday night.
Here is the full starting lineup for the the two qualifying races.
Duel 1 Starting Lineup
- Kyle Busch
- Ryan Preece
- Corey Heim
- Alex Bowman
- Chris Buescher
- Joey Logano
- Austin Dillon
- Corey LaJoie
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Brad Keselowski
- Ryan Blaney
- William Byron
- Cole Custer
- Cody Ware
- Jimmie Johnson
- Bubba Wallace
- AJ Allmendinger
- Ross Chastain
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Daniel Suárez
- Chandler Smith
- Casey Mears
- Noah Gragson
Duel 2 Starting Lineup
- Chase Briscoe
- Denny Hamlin
- Kyle Larson
- Chase Elliott
- Ty Gibbs
- Christopher Bell
- Justin Allgaier
- Austin Cindric
- Zane Smith
- Michael McDowell
- Connor Zilisch
- Erik Jones
- Josh Berry
- Carson Hocevar
- Riley Herbst
- Todd Gilliland
- Anthony Alfredo
- Ty Dillon
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Tyler Reddick
- BJ McLeod
- J.J. Yeley
The results of Thursday night’s Duel qualifying races will set most of the rest of the starting grid heading into the 500-mile classic in Florida.
Full Schedule For Daytona 500 Thursday’s Qualifying Races
The America 250 Florida Duels are scheduled for Thursday, February 12 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Duel 1 is set to begin at 7 pm ET, with Duel 2 following at around 8:45 pm ET. These two 60-lap, 150-mile races determine starting positions for the remainder of the Daytona 500 field.
Duel 1 sets the inside row (third, fifth, seventh, etc.) while Duel 2 sets the outside row (fourth, sixth, eighth, etc.). Meanwhile, the highest finishing open cars not already locked in will earn the final spots in the Daytona 500. 23XI Racing’s Corey Heim and JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier have already secured their spots for the race by posting the fastest qualifying times.
Meanwhile, Thursday will also feature the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice, from 4 pm on FOX Sports 1. The series’ opening race will take place Friday, February 13 and the Daytona 500 starts around 2:30 pm ET on FOX on Sunday, February 15, if weather permits.
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