Bowman’s average lap speed of 191.261 mph led the way in Wednesday night’s qualifying session, when he easily overcame his Hendrick teammate William Byron to make his record for the fourth consecutive start on the front row. opening of the season.
Byron finished second (190,219 mph), which also held him in Sunday’s opening lineup at the Daytona International Speedway.
It is also the seventh consecutive Daytona 500 that a team powered by a Hendrick engine started from pole.
“I mean, it doesn’t have much to do with me, right? It’s a testament to the guys on this team and everyone at the Hendrick Motorsports store, ”said Bowman. “They work so hard on these super speed cars – they look great when they get to the race track.
“Our Ally Camaro has obviously been very fast since we unloaded. We focused a lot on trying to win pole for the 500. It means a lot to us and we obviously did it.
“I am very proud of everyone. It feels really good. It is just incredible to drive this # 48 car. ”
Aric Almirola (190,178 mph) finished third and the best Ford, Bubba Wallace, was the fourth fastest (189,577 mph) and the best Toyota and Ryan Preece (189,565 mph) finished fifth.
Completing the top 10 were Kevin Harvick, Christopher Bell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez.
By posting the fastest speeds between teams without chartering, David Ragan and Preece guarantee an initial position in the Daytona 500.
The remainder of lineup 500 will be defined by the results of the Thursday night qualifying races.
Noah Gragson, who was trying to make the Daytona 500 with Beard Motorsports in Chevrolet 62, failed to make a qualifying attempt because his car failed inspection three times.
He will have to start from the rear of his qualifying race on Thursday night and his performance at that event will be the only way to get to the Daytona 500 field.
Derrike Cope also failed to make a qualifying attempt, as his team needed to change the batteries, but failed to complete it within the five-minute clock.
Related video