Chase Elliott tops Hendrick teammate Bowman for Daytona pole

Elliott earned his fourth career pole in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series – all on superspeedways – by outdueling his Hendrick Motorsports teammates on Friday night.

Elliott’s average lap speed of 194.045 mph was enough to claim the top starting position for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, his first pole of the 2018 season.

“I hope that translates into a lot of speed tomorrow night,” Elliott said. “We put a lot of effort into our superspeedway program at Hendrick Motorsports – the engine shop, the chassis shop, the body shop. They take a lot of pride when we come to these races.

“They pay the same amount of points as the rest of them, so it matters. Our team treats them that way and their hard work paid off.”

Asked what the pole does for the team in general, Elliott said, “I think it gives everybody confidence. The best pit stall is certainly nice. That can matter at the end of these races.

“Sharing the front row with a teammate is nice, too. We’ll just have to see. The race is a little bit different ballgame but having speed is nice.”

Alex Bowman, who won the pole for the Daytona 500, ended up second (193.046 mph). Brad Keselowski was third (192.802 mph), Jimmie Johnson fourth (192.361 mph) and Kevin Harvick completed the top-five (192.345 mph).

Completing the Top 12 were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Michael McDowell, Clint Bowyer, Austin Dillon, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney.

Round 1

Elliott led a HMS sweep of the top three positions in the first round of qualifying, which was delayed for almost an hour-and-a-half by thunderstorms.

Elliott’s average lap speed was 193.991 mph.

“Good job, bud, take care of your ride there,” Elliott’s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, told him when he completed his lap.

Bowman, who won the pole for the Daytona 500, ended up second (192.938 mph) and Johnson was third (192.686 mph). Harvick and Keselowski completed the top-five.

“It was really good, a little better than we expected,” Elliott said of his first round performance. “That’s always nice. We’ll see. Speed in our Chevy has been good and we’ll have a good starting spot tomorrow night.”

Also advancing to the final round were Stenhouse, Newman, McDowell, Bowyer, Blaney, Logano and Austin Dillon.

“Nice work everybody, good job, that’s what I’m talking about, execution,” McDowell said over his radio and completing his lap.

His crew chief, Derrick Finley, replied, “Let’s cool it down, do what the big boys do.”

Among those failing to advance were Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, last week’s winner Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Ty Dillon and Darrell Wallace Jr.

“That sucks,” Wallace said after his run. “All right, we’ll go race.”

Said Truex: “You never know what you’re going to get here. Not much practice yesterday, just kind of winged it, but 13th will be an okay spot.”

Timothy Peters was the only driver who failed to make the field. He was slowest among the five drivers who were not locked in the field and attempting to claim one of four “open” positions.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Mph
1	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	46.381		194.045
2	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	46.621	0.240	193.046
3	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	46.680	0.299	192.802
4	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	46.787	0.406	192.361
5	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	46.791	0.410	192.345
6	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	46.835	0.454	192.164
7	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	46.921	0.540	191.812
8	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	46.956	0.575	191.669
9	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	47.011	0.630	191.445
10	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	47.047	0.666	191.298
11	22	Joey Logano	Ford	47.083	0.702	191.152
12	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	47.125	0.744	190.981
13	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	47.069	0.688	191.209
14	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	47.086	0.705	191.140
15	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	47.142	0.761	190.913
16	62	Brendan Gaughan	Chevrolet	47.145	0.764	190.900
17	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	47.151	0.770	190.876
18	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	47.153	0.772	190.868
19	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	47.162	0.781	190.832
20	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	47.165	0.784	190.819
21	38	David Ragan	Ford	47.211	0.830	190.634
22	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	47.228	0.847	190.565
23	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	47.270	0.889	190.396
24	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	47.284	0.903	190.339
25	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	47.358	0.977	190.042
26	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	47.360	0.979	190.034
27	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	47.424	1.043	189.777
28	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	47.456	1.075	189.649
29	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	47.510	1.129	189.434
30	21	Paul Menard	Ford	47.568	1.187	189.203
31	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	47.787	1.406	188.336
32	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	47.872	1.491	188.001
33	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	48.033	1.652	187.371
34	7	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	48.045	1.664	187.324
35	96	D.J. Kennington	Toyota	48.306	1.925	186.312
36	00	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	48.554	2.173	185.361
37	99	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	48.640	2.259	185.033
38	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	48.655	2.274	184.976
39	51	Ray Black Jr.	Chevrolet	49.141	2.760	183.146
40	23	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	49.253	2.872	182.730