Chase Briscoe wins Daytona 500 pole award, Austin Cindric on front row

How about this for a statement?! Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing just won the first Daytona 500 pole ever for Toyota. Not to mention this is the first for Briscoe his crew chief James Small, second for Joe Gibbs Racing. NASCAR season is underway.

Ford could not lock the rest of the field out of the front row, but they did pick up P2. Austin Cindric put down a lap that was just barely better than Ryan Preece. Then Briscoe came out as the final car in the second round and showed everyone what real speed is.

With qualifying over, we have the front row and the lineups for the Duel races. Things are only going to turn up from here to Sunday.

Chase Briscoe wins the pole for the Daytona 500! Austin Cindric joins him on the front row. pic.twitter.com/SKnXDkLFMs

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 13, 2025

“Yeah, it’s a great way to start our season what an unbelievable way to start off the year,” Briscoe said after qualifying. “Unbelievable way to start off with Toyota to be able to be the guy to deliver them the first anything when they’ve already accomplished so much is pretty cool.

“So, yeah, just, man – to think I’m going to start on the front row, or on the pole, of the Great American Race with honestly the ultimate great American brand in Bass Pro Shops is unbelievable.”

With qualifying over, we have the lineups for the Duel races set. Things are starting to build and soon we will be ready for Sunday night’s Daytona 500 to go green.

Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric leading Duel races

As the fastest drivers in qualifying, Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric will both get the pole for their respective Duel race. It is all about pride for them as they already have starting spots locked up for the Daytona 500.

Here are the starting lineups for the Duel races at Daytona.

Duel #1
Chase Briscoe – Ryan Preece
Josh Berry – Austin Dillon
Ty Dillon – Zane Smith
Kyle Busch – Chase Elliott
Michael McDowell – AJ Allmendinger
William Byron – Martin Truex Jr.
Ty Gibbs – Tyler Reddick
Bubba Wallace – Justin Haley
Justin Allgaier – Carson Hocevar
Ross Chastain – Helio Castroneves
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Chandler Smith
JJ Yeley

Duel #2
Austin Cindric – Joey Logano
Denny Hamlin – Christopher Bell
Kyle Larson – Alex Bowman
Todd Gilliland – Brad Keselowski
Chris Buescher – Ryan Blaney
Noah Gragson – Daniel Suárez
Riley Herbst – Jimmie Johnson
Shane van Gisbergen – Cole Custer
Corey LaJoie – Erik Jones
John Hunter Nemechek – Anthony Alfredo
BJ McLeod – Cody Ware

During qualifying we got to see who had speed and who didn’t. It wasn’t as clear cut by manufacturer as it was last season. However, we did see that Ford and Toyota have a general advantage over Chevy. It is not surprising to see Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric on the front row.