Death, taxes, and a Chevrolet winning the Daytona 500 pole.
For the tenth straight year, a Chevrolet topped the qualifying charts for the NASCAR Cup Series‘ season opener on Wednesday. This time, it was defending champion Kyle Larson who got to claim the first pole award of the 2022 season while Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Alex Bowman was on the front row for the fifth consecutive 500.
All four Hendrick cars led the first round of qualifying with 2019 500 pole sitter William Byron in front. The top ten—from Byron to Daniel Suárez—advanced to the second and final round, where Larson set the fastest time of 49.680 seconds at 181.159 mph. Larson is the fifth reigning champion to win the pole for the following season’s 500 after Cale Yarborough (1978), Dale Jarrett (2000), Jeff Gordon (1999), and Jimmie Johnson (2008). Poetically and perhaps owing to the team’s dominance over the years, Gordon and Johnson were also Hendrick drivers while the former is currently its vice chairman.
Despite Larson enjoying a highly successful 2021 season and an overall solid Cup career, superspeedways have been a kryptonite for him. Prior to 2022, his best 500 starting position was eighth, his average finish at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway are a mediocre 21.1 and 24.5, respectively, and he has more retirements than top tens at Daytona (six to five). However, he has scored top tens in his last three Daytona 500s.
Larson described the pole as feeling like his “proudest pole because you’re proud of everybody who had an impact in doing it.”