Alex Bowman wins Daytona 500 pole in all-Hendrick front row

Bowman’s average lap speed of 191.261 mph led the way in Wednesday night’s qualifying session as he easily topped his Hendrick teammate William Byron to make his record fourth consecutive front row start in the season opener.

Byron ended up second (190.219 mph), which also locked him into the Sunday’s starting lineup at Daytona International Speedway.

It’s also the seventh consecutive Daytona 500 a team powered by a Hendrick engine started on the pole.

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

“Our Ally Camaro obviously has been really fast since we unloaded. We focused a lot on trying to win the pole for the 500. It means a lot to us and obviously we were able to achieve that.

“Just really proud of everyone. It feels really good. It’s just awesome to be driving this No. 48 car.”

Aric Almirola (190.178 mph) ended up third and the top Ford, Bubba Wallace was fourth-fastest (189.577 mph) and the top Toyota and Ryan Preece (189.565 mph) ended up fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez.

By posting the fastest speeds among the teams without charters, both David Ragan and Preece are guaranteed a starting position in the Daytona 500.

The remainder of the 500 lineup will be set by the results of Thursday night’s qualifying races.

Noah Gragson, who was attempting to make the Daytona 500 with Beard Motorsports in the No. 62 Chevrolet, was unable to make a qualifying attempt as his car failed inspection three times.

He will have to start from the rear of the field of his qualifying race Thursday night and his performance in that event will be the only way he can make the field of the Daytona 500.

Derrike Cope also failed to make a qualifying attempt as his team needed to change batteries but could not complete it within the five-minute clock.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	48	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	1	47.056			191.261
2	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	1	47.314	0.258	0.258	190.219
3	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	1	47.324	0.268	0.010	190.178
4	23	Bubba Wallace		Toyota	1	47.474	0.418	0.150	189.577
5	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Chevrolet	1	47.477	0.421	0.003	189.565
6	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	1	47.489	0.433	0.012	189.518
7	20	Christopher Bell		Toyota	1	47.573	0.517	0.084	189.183
8	37	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	1	47.585	0.529	0.012	189.135
9	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	1	47.631	0.575	0.046	188.953
10	99	Daniel Suarez		Chevrolet	1	47.636	0.580	0.005	188.933
11	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	1	47.695	0.639	0.059	188.699
12	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	1	47.695	0.639	0.000	188.699
13	36	David Ragan		Ford	1	47.730	0.674	0.035	188.561
14	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	1	47.742	0.686	0.012	188.513
15	5	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	1	47.752	0.696	0.010	188.474
16	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	1	47.780	0.724	0.028	188.363
17	21	Matt DiBenedetto		Ford	1	47.881	0.825	0.101	187.966
18	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	1	47.895	0.839	0.014	187.911
19	33	Austin Cindric		Ford	1	47.900	0.844	0.005	187.891
20	16	Kaz Grala		Chevrolet	1	47.925	0.869	0.025	187.793
21	22	Joey Logano		Ford	1	47.943	0.887	0.018	187.723
22	14	Chase Briscoe		Ford	1	47.956	0.900	0.013	187.672
23	6	Ryan Newman		Chevrolet	1	47.960	0.904	0.004	187.656
24	42	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	1	47.972	0.916	0.012	187.609
25	41	Cole Custer		Ford	1	48.060	1.004	0.088	187.266
26	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	1	48.072	1.016	0.012	187.219
27	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	1	48.124	1.068	0.052	187.017
28	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	1	48.165	1.109	0.041	186.858
29	43	Erik Jones		Chevrolet	1	48.189	1.133	0.024	186.765
30	17	Chris Buescher		Ford	1	48.269	1.213	0.080	186.455
31	8	Tyler Reddick		Chevrolet	1	48.347	1.291	0.078	186.154
32	38	Anthony Alfredo		Ford	1	48.422	1.366	0.075	185.866
33	96	Ty Dillon		Toyota	1	48.446	1.390	0.024	185.774
34	77	Jamie McMurray		Chevrolet	1	48.746	1.690	0.300	184.631
35	7	Corey Lajoie		Chevrolet	1	48.767	1.711	0.021	184.551
36	00	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	1	49.571	2.515	0.804	181.558
37	13	Garrett Smithley		Ford	1	49.880	2.824	0.309	180.433
38	78	B.J. McLeod		Ford	1	49.985	2.929	0.105	180.054
39	66	Timmy Hill		Ford	1	50.016	2.960	0.031	179.942
40	51	Cody Ware		Chevrolet	1	50.074	3.018	0.058	179.734
41	53	Joey Gase		Ford	1	50.630	3.574	0.556	177.760
42	52	Josh Bilicki		Ford	1	50.926	3.870	0.296	176.727
43	15	Derrike Cope		Chevrolet
44	62	Noah Gragson		Chevrolet