It came down to the last car in line with Joey Logano the 2015 Daytona 500 winner taking the first points paying pole of the season with a time of 49.465(181.947 mph) over 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell breaking the lock Henrick Motorsports and Chevrolet have had a lock on the front row over the past several years.
“It’s a special, really special pole. This is something that as a team, this pole is talked about more than any other racetrack we go to.
A lot of it’s because you eliminate the variable of the driver. I know I’m up here talking, I shouldn’t be the one talking about it, because those guys are the ones that really gave me the race car I needed to go fast. They massage on it, work on it.
This is a very prideful pole to win for not just Team Penske and the 22 team, but for Ford and for Roush-Yates. When you see boat those Fords in Victory Lane, damn right you should beat your chest a little bit, something you should be very proud of.” Said Logano
McDowell had been at the top of the board for most of the final round of qualifying before Logano would wheel his Ford Dark Horse Mustang out beating McDowell by just a mere 0.071 of a second.
“Just shows you the level of intensity that everybody at Front Row put into tonight, to having as much speed as we can, almost like we wanted to prove to ourselves if we really put our mind to it, can we do it.
Obviously these Mustangs are fast. To lock out the front row with two Ford Mustangs is great. Everybody at Roush Yates Engines shop, and all the things that it takes to make race cars go fast. But when it comes to the details the guys did at the shop, they did a good job.
Cool moment. Cool for them to have that moment. Stinks that Joey beat us for the pole. But I’m super proud of the effort. It’s a cool experience for us to be in a spot that we’re not typically in.” Said McDowell
Kyle Larson would be the first Hendrick powered Chevrolet in third followed by Cindric and Elliott rounding out the top-five in qualifying.
Toyota would have a tough night when seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson switching to the Toyota powered cars for Legacy Motor Club for this season would fail to qualify on time and now sets his sights on the duels tomorrow night to make his way into the Daytona 500.
Of the six open cars that would take time David Ragan driving a third car for Roush Keselowski Racing and Anthony Alfredo driving for Beard Motorsports would qualify on time allowing them to use the duels to setup their cars after no practice time prior to qualifying.
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